Sunrise Avenue Discography | Samu's Blog 2011 auf Englisch

Blog from 13. Januar 2011

Samu

Album # 3

It’s been a while… I have to say that I have been waiting for this moment for quite some time. The new album is almost done and the first single “Hollywood Hills” is ready to go out in public. And I am writing my first blog for the 3rd album. JEEEEEEE PERKELE ;)

First I must thank you all for a very great year 2010. It wasn’t the easiest one for us. But even though we weren’t on the top of the charts all the time, you people made every single show and event special for us by being there and showing that you’re on our side. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much your support means to us and how good it feels to have you on our side.

The new album

We have released two albums before and I have never felt like this before. I was thinking about it a bit today and found no explanation. I should ask the mothers of 3 kids (like my own), do the feelings differ from 1 & 2 & 3.

On the 1st one I was just super lost, hyped and dreaming about really having a song on some radio chart some day and everything happened very fast. Those are in a way the sweetest moments on my career, but I am glad that the mess will never come back ;) Though it was fun ;)

With the second one in 2009, things weren’t that easy. I must say that I am very proud of PopGasm too, but the whole mood wasn’t right that time. They call it the 2nd album syndrome. Everyone is trying a little too hard and things go a little wrong. We had fun and we’re still kicking, so I can’t complain.

Album #3 – Out Of Style

I am so happy and so damn proud of it! The biggest thing probably is, that the record companies (EMI / UNIVERSAL) let me be the chief with the band running the project and there were no corporate people involved in musical things. All the stuff is decided with the band and the 2 producers (Jukka&Jukka). That was a risk, sure, but now it really sounds like us. Exactly the way we want it to. I and we wrote the songs all over the world (L.A., Paris, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tokyo) but it all still sounds like the same band / project.

Hollywood Hills

I was in Los Angeles in May 2010 for 3 weeks. I wrote a lot of songs with some of the world’s top writers and it was a hard but fun trip. In the night, after the last writing session I had a few beers (and a few more) and I went to my hotel room super tired. I felt super tired and lonely and my head was filled with all the songs we had been working with. I honestly just wanted to go home.

I looked at the L.A. downtown below from my hotel room balcony and said “Bye Bye Hollywood Hills.” Then I had this melody playing in my head and I decided to take my guitar from its case for one more time. I sat on my balcony (sorry neighbors), wrote the lyrics and recorded a demo on my mac. Everybody fell in love with the song back home and now it’s the first single. How crazy can this job get… ;)

Hollywood Hills is produced by our new producer, Mr. Jukka Immonen. He has produced half of the album and Mr. Jukka Backlund, the guy you know from our previous albums and also from the stage, has produced the other half. Both gentlemen have done a brilliant job! What is it with producers and the name Jukka?

Out Of Style

A strange album name? Yes it is. I don’t know how many meetings there have been about the Sunrise Avenue music style. It’s rock and pop and folk and electronic this and that… This time we decided to be honestly and fully as we are, without any styles or concepts. The sound is more rock and straight forward again, not forgetting our softer and acoustic side either.

The original slogan of our band back in 2000 was “Honest music” and that is our road now. “Out of style” also describes us guys pretty well. We aren’t that cool, we are just 4 guys who love doing what we do together. The 7th track on the album is “Sex & Cigarettes.” I sing on the second verse “…cause I’m out of style, Yeah!” I was driving in Helsinki last summer and it just hit me when I heard it through my car speakers. For the second time I decided the album title in my sweet dear car ;) You gotta trust you instinct when it hits you!

So what’s gonna happen now… I wish I knew ;)

The single will be presented to radios now also in new Sunrise Avenue countries, so this is where we need your help and support! We will also make a video for it on the first week of February. I will not reveal the video concept yet, muahahaha ;)

We will announce some new live dates soon and we really hope we will have a busy festival summer too. The album will be out in the first countries in March. Please check our website for detailed info on your country. And if your local record store doesn’t have it, kick their ass and say greetings from us ;)

I must say I am very nervous now and I am feeling kind of restless. But I have a good feeling about this… I wish I could just upload the album somewhere and you could all get it now, but I guess this is where the business folks would have something to say.

So see you all very soon! On January 31st the album is mastered and done and then we’re ready to come to you – where ever you want us to come!

Wish us luck! I love you all!

Here we go ;)

Samu

Blog from 12. March 2011

Samu

On Promotion Tour

We are sitting at our backstage with the guys in Innsbruck, Austria getting ready for the TV show of the night. I started the official “Out Of Style” promotion yesterday in Berlin alone by playing the new songs for the media folks and doing interviews and the boys joined me this morning. Today we do this very strange German TV show, TV Total, where they go down the hills with wok pans and tomorrow we attend the DOME again, for the 8th time. We are DOME veterans ;)

We started the promotion already in January and we have done many “one offs” in Finland, Germany and Estonia. In Estonia the trip was probably the hardest so far with their local Saaga-Vodka at the Estonian Music awards after party. The vodka is super good. Ask Sami ;) And we also attended the Miss Finland finals playing Hollywood Hills acoustic there. The downside was that we had to share the back stage with the girls. As we came to the backstage before our part, the ladies were changing their outfits from swimsuits to dresses. I didn’t know if it’s more rude to look or not to look. Riku relaxed us all by jumping into the winner’s uniform for a moment and the ice was broken. Usually I don’t like it when the people at home can select the winner for Eurovisions or the new Miss Finland, but this time I have to say the best one won. Congrats & Good Luck!

It’s been a strange month after mastering and finalizing the album. I must say I succeeded pretty well in relaxing and keeping my thoughts away from music and the new album. Now it feels as if we all have our batteries full for the next step and I have a funny good feeling in my stomach about what’s to come.

My bags didn’t arrive from Helsinki yesterday and I am a little worried what I am going to wear the whole weekend. I could easily wear the same jeans and stuff every day, but we are so much in front of the TV camera and the promoters might have something so say about it…

I have been amazed how good the start has been with the new album. For example in Germany Hollywood Hills is in top 3 both in sales and also on radio charts. There are many festival offers already on the table and seems as if we will have a busy year. Me like!!! I have no words to thank you lovely people who have been supporting us, voting and other stuff. Thank you so very much! We will pay you back on tour by sweating our asses off.

The next few weeks I / we will be doing interviews and other promotion all over the place and after that we release our third album JEEEEEEE ;) I drove alone in Helsinki a few days ago and listened to the album after a 2-week break. I am so damn happy and proud of the final result and there’s nothing I’d do different. I don’t know if or how much the album will sell & succeed, but as a piece of music I am very very happy. It’s the best Sunrise Avenue album, no question, if you ask me. I can’t wait to get all the 12 songs to you people so you can hear what we have been doing in studio for the last year. And you can disagree or agree with me ;)

We’re discussing the live show plans with the guys now and Sami suggested that we start the show on tour with “I Gotta Go.” He said in Finnish “Se lähtee ku reidet perseestä…” Have fun translating that ;)

Anyway… See you all very soon and thank you so much for all the feedback and help so far. I bet we will have a great year ahead together!

On the plane to Bremen

I decided to continue my blog on the plane, since there’s nothing to do and the Internet didn’t work at the hotel last night so I couldn’t post it to the web.

Was a long day yesterday. We started at 10 in the morning and we were done at 01 in the night. Ok, most of the time it was just waiting at the back stage and sitting in the car or plane, but still. Today the day will also be long. The Dome TV show is always a huge media circus and there’s a lot to do, but everything there is very well organized. Well… Once they burned Sami and me with pyro walls, but we have forgotten them ;) It’s so cool to meet the reporters and other people after a long long break again. The biggest problem I have now with the promotion trips is that the Finnish national Ice Hockey Play Offs start today and it’ll be a bit hard focusing on the reporter’s questions sometimes. I guess I will be singing the national anthem on the first Helsinki IFK home game next Friday, where they hopefully beat the shit out of the Narri-Jokerit.

My bags arrived and I am wearing nice clean clothes. Fully out of style, as usual ;) So today will be about a lot of interviews again, some red carpet and a very cool TV performance on stage for millions of viewers and the live crowd too, of course. Some artists say they don’t like the TV shows that much. Of course for us too, the real shows are better when you get to play and hour or so, but I like the whole hassle and stuff that goes on the whole day today too. And there’s also the after party too ;) We use to have the “heavy partying” reputation in the past at the dome after parties, but we lost it somehow. I wonder if tonight we could steal that trophy back. I count on Sami after the session we had in Tallinn ;)

See you all very soon!

Love, from The DOME back stage,

Samu

Blog from 27. March 2011

Tohtori Haber

Promotion Tour / Suomikeikkaa ja Promohommia

(Suomeksi alempana)

Howdy!

Whatta 3 week circus it has been. I don’t remember working and flying around like a ping-pong ball like this ever before, but here I am sitting on a plane towards Cologne and feeling very happy and not too tired at all.

The last weeks we have been in almost every possible TV show in Finland and gave interviews to most of the Finnish magazines and radios. It was actually a nice surprise how well they took us. We have been away for a long long time from the Finnish stages and I guess we only performed 4-6 times in our home country the last 2 years.

The album is now out anyway and now it’s time to put the other kind of working gloves on and start promoting our new baby before we hit the stages again in 4 weeks time. It makes me really happy that the tour is somewhat sold out all ready and I know we will have lots of fun again. I must say the Finnish audience surprised me very positively and they were super good on all three nights and it will be hard job topping that. The rest of you have more time to learn the lyrics so maybe singing along goes even better ;)

I will start my trip from Cologne and I go all over Germany, Switzerland and Austria. I know there have been some great things happening in other countries too, and I hope we can visit them too - soon. The band guys will join me for a few days here and there but I will mostly be alone with the drivers and promoters. Good so. Maybe that means that nobody is dragging me to the lobby bar every night for “one glass….” And I go to gym or bed instead.
After 3 superb shows in Finland, I must write a few words in our language too, so don’t worry if the text goes a bit funny below ;)

Thank you all very much for all the support and great feed back so far and see you very very soon ;)

Hugs,

Samu

*****************************************

Moikka!

Mä istun koneessa kohti Kölniä, Saksaa ja hiukan on vieläkin eilisestä uupunut fiilis kun piti ajaa vielä keikan jälkeen kotiin että ehdin pakkaamaan ja kerkesin koneeseen. Olipahan ihana viikonloppu!!! Aina kun mä kelaan suomikeikkoja, TV-esiintymisiä ja muita, mä en oikein tiedä mitä odottaa. Suomessa ollaan kuitenkin aina vähän ”omalla takapihalla” ja meihin ja etenkin minuun suhtaudutaan luonnollisestikin vähän eri tavalla kuin muualla. Nyt on kuitenkin pakko sanoa että jäi tosi hyvä fiilis siitä miten otitte meidät vastaan kaikilla kolmella keikalla, vaikka Helsingin keikalla meillä menikin vähän sähellykseksi. Pakko mainita että ilmeisesti se tekninen moka oli sittenkin mun vika. Mä en nähnyt mitään siellä lavalla pimeässä ja laitoin vissiin capon ( se juttu kitarankaulassa) väärään välikköön sormikopelolla ja haukuin Karrin ihan turhaan. Sori Possu. Tai siis pakko sen on jotenkin olla sun syytäs. Jotenkin sä hämäsit mua olemuksellasi ja Turguse-Murteella ;)

Oli aivan mielettömät keikat. Helsingissä oli toki koko bändillä ja crewlla kieli aika keskellä suuta ja jänskätti tajuttomasti. Ja vielä mun kurkkuongelmat (ekaa kertaa ikinä??!!!) sai stressin ennen keikkaa aika korkealle, mutta onneksi se Agentti-Ellun hommaama kyypakkaus toimi ja toivottavasti en kuulostanut ihan varikselta.

Oli ihanaa huomata miten liveversiotkin biiseistä toimii hienosti ja miten te lauloitte niitäkin jo mukana.
Mediasirkus ennen keikkoja oli aika rajua sekä suomessa ja ulkomailla ja mun on pakko myöntää että olin ihan kuolemanväsynyt Helsingin keikan jälkeen. Vielä seuraavana päivänä kun olin parissa palaverissa ja sitten Ylen Puoli seiskassa ja lopuksi Korkojen Kera-ohjelmassa, meinasin oikeasti nukahtaa lämpiöön. Toivottavasti musta ei jäänyt kamalan kärttyisä fiilis Vapun ja Jannen kanssa, olin vaan poikki. Tuttava laittoi tekstarin Korkojen Kera-ohjelman jälkeen että ”Lepäisit välillä, näytit aika pahalta” Kiitti ;)

Maikkarin studiolta hypättiin Rikun kanssa autoon ja mä hurjastelin meidät Turkuun. Etenkin Turun kohdalla olin tosi huolissani että tuleeko meitä kukaan katsomaan ja kyselinkin teknikoilta moneen otteeseen että onko siellä yhtään ketään yleisössä. Olin aika mieletön yllätys kun pääsi lavalle ;) Mun on pakko pahoitella sielläkin muutamaa lavaspiikkiä, etupäässä kertomusta Turklulaisesta ”Kakkapökäle”- klubista. Mulla ei enää ollut yhtään aivosolua toiminnassa. Mutta olipahan ihan mielettömän kivaa. Toivottavasti päästään Turkuunkin pian uudestaan. Pikkulinnut kertoi että saatettaisiin päästäkin ;)

Muut pojat meni bussilla Lahteen ja me tultiin Rikun kanssa perässä mun autolla ja saatiin nukkua vähän pidempään. Mä olin tullut mun hotellihuoneeseen yöllä ja päättänyt katsoa ”Expandables” leffaa koneelta että nukahtaisin. Olin nukahtanut läppäri sylissä ilman että olin ehtinyt edes valita leffaa. Samu taisi olla aika väsy…;)

Matkalla Lahteen mun oli pakko luovuttaa kuskinpaikka Rikulle puolessa välissä koska olisin ajanut metsään. Se oli pikku riski, koska pojat oli mun kuorsatessa vetäneet tappiin asti humppabaarin puolella, mutta aika vakaasti se ajoi. Riku sai idean matkalla Lahteen että mennään niiden mökille siihen lähelle. Rikun Äiti ja Isäpuoli laittoi pöydän koreaksi ja saunan lämpiämään. Puusauna, ahh… Ja saunan jälkeen nukahdettiin molemmat takkatulen ääreen, josta ne sitten patistivat meidät niiden sänkyyn nukkumaan vierekkäin. Riku herätti mut vähän yli 8 illalla siihen että HIFK oli mennyt johtoon Helsingissä ja pitäisi mennä keikalle. Ihanat vanhemmat Ritulla! Kohteliuvat kuin omaa poikaa.

Mä olin kuullut Sibelius talon Finlandia Klubista paljon hyvää, mutta ylistää olisi voinut enemmänkin. Paras bäkkäri missä mä olen koskaan ollut missään maailmassa. Omat saunat, röökikopit ettei tartte palella ja toisaalta savuttomien haistella pahaa hajua. Henkilökunta oli superystävällistä. Lahdessa on musta pienen ja suuren kaupungin hyvät puolet. Siellä on paljon porukkaa, mutta kotoisa tunnelma.

Lahdessa keikkakin alkoi rullaamaan meidän osaltamme paremmin ja ilman stressiä. Toki lepo oli jeesannut, mutta kyllä täytyy sanoa että oli mahti ilta. Ihan superyleisö, ihan Eurooppatasoa, ja me vaan halailtiin toisiamme keikan jälkeen bäkkärillä ;) Saunassa ei toki.

Olin himassa joskus neljän aikaan yöllä ja söin lihiksen munalla ja jahtisiivulla ja kaaduin sänkyyn. Aamulla ei jäänyt aikaa muuhun kuin nopeaan pakkaamiseen (oikeesti mulla ei ole mitään käsitystä mitä kaikkea otin mukaan, mutta kai täältä saa ostettua housuja jos unohtui…) ja nyt oon siis matkalla Itämeren yllä. Mä oon kolme viikkoa haastattelu- ja soittohommissa Saksassa, Sveitsissä ja Itävallassa. Pojat käy muutamana päivänä moikkaamassa mua jos on tärkeämpiä TV-esiintymisiä, mutta pääasiassa oon yksin kuskien, agenttien ja promoottorien kanssa. Tavallaan vähän tylsää olla yksin mutta tavallaan ihan kivakin. Ja ymmärrän kyllä että ei ole mitään järkeä istuttaa neljää kundia haastatteluissa kun yhdeltä kuitenkin kysymykset kysytään. Saapahan pojat levätä ja katsoa toivottavasti monta Play-Off matsia mun HIFK-kausikorteilla.

Huomisesta voi tulla aika jännä päivä kun Helsingissä pelataan kuolemanpeli HIFK-Jokerit ja mä TODELLAKIN aion seurata matsia radion välityksellä vaikka mua haastettalisi mikä Conan O’ Brian tai Paavi. Te joilla on kilpisydän, laittakaa punaista päälle ja menkää näyttämään kuka on kingi meidän hallissa. On ollut mahtava sarja.

Kiitos vielä kerran ihanasta rupeamasta ja nähdään pian uudestaan. Mä paan nyt Suomi-paidan päälle, nahkahousut jalkaan, bratwurstin kouraan ja alan myymään suomalaista musaa näille, jotka eivät tajua jääkiekosta mitään.
Hyvää kevättä kaikille! Ootte parhaita!

Samu

Blog from 29. March 2011

Samu

Towel Guy

Cologne – Kassel – Hannover

I am sitting here at Radisson Blu Hotel in Hannover having a HUGE salad and pizza. I had to reward myself after a long day. I started the interviews already yesterday in Cologne. Today Riku flew in and joined me for the Morning TV (Wake-up at 0530!!) and after that he flew back home and I continued alone again.

It’s been super cool meeting the reporters and folks again. Many of them I met before on our previous trips and it’s so cool to see that some morning hosts from 5 years ago are the music chiefs of the station now ;)

I am very tired after the wake-up, long traveling, interviews & my little shopping session in Hannover today, but I must write about this one thing that is bothering me a little bit and maybe someone can help me.

I love Germany. I really do. Germans make the best cars in the world, they have supported us like little angels from the very beginning and I have nothing but good to say about them apart from this one thing.

I went to the spa today to relax at the FINNISH sauna a bit before my dinner. I had forgotten my swim wear at home as I was packing in a hurry so I took a towel with me from my room, so people would not have to stare at my family jewels.

I was sitting in sauna with my towel on and everything was nice. Nice steamy air and very hot. Exactly the way I like it. Then this couple, let’s say both 60 years old, came in fully naked, of course. I guess that is ok in Germany. In Finland that would not happen. It’s ok to be bathing naked with family or if the sauna is only for men or women, but this one was a public unisex place. I decided that I am not going to mind them at all, but as soon as they stepped in, they started staring at me and my towel as if I was an alien.

They were both lying all over the place and especially the guy, who seemed pretty satisfied with his own “equipment,” was having his feet up against the wall and I was forced to close my eyes.

Then after 2 minutes of silent relaxation together with the lovely couple, the woman said something very fast and almost angry to me in German “Sie können nicht….In Sauna…” And she was pointing at my towel. I said in English that I don’t speak German. They both looked very angry and obviously the point was that I shouldn’t wear a towel. Why? I stepped out after a few minutes because I felt totally unwelcome there.

This thing has happened before. I remember some crew guys at a spa after one festival where the security had come in the sauna telling the guys to get naked. It’s not ok to sit inside with your pants on?

So… can someone please tell me what the story is with showing your most sacred obstacles to everyone and how bad have I really been wearing a towel here? I meant no harm…
I hope the “anti-towel-couple” will not come into my dreams tonight. The pick-up is 0930 in the morning, so I’d have time to sleep well.

Have a good night everyone, where ever you are. With or without a towel ;)

Samu

Blog from 03. April 2011

Samu

Out of tune!

Dusseldorf, Cologne, Oberhausen, Kassel, Hannover, Bremen, Hamburg, Kiel, Baden-Baden, Saarbrucken, Mannheim, Vienna
I am feeling a little out of tune after the long birthday dinner last night. It wasn’t that late, but after working pretty long days the last 3 weeks; I really don’t feel like a princess today. More like a frog. But if you kiss this one, a prince won’t appear – just a tired Dr. Haber. But it was worth it ;)

Thank you everyone for making my birthday so nice. I was actually a bit sad when I read in the promotion program that I’ll be pretty much alone on my big evening. But the Radio stations and lovely fans / friends made it very very special. I don’t think I ever got this many presents and I had my room full of them last night. And thank you Intercontinental Köln for the superior suite for my B-day. Nice surprise. I slept so well ;)

So I had so many bottles of wine, some very good ones (!!), Jägermeister, whiskey, beer, cakes, clothes, a dancing duck and a lot of little toys we will enjoy wit the boys. Thank you all so very much.

We had a dinner at a great Spanish restaurant called “Pepe” (how original;) downtown Cologne (Can warmly recommend) together with our / my product manager Daniel and my friend Julia also joined us. It wasn’t a good idea to mix Kölsch beer, wine and Amaretto. That is what brought the headache. We ended up driving in her Smartfor2 three people inside and I am happy the Polizei didn’5t see us ;)

It was a super nice week! When I flew down one week ago, I looked at the schedule and was a bit worried how hard it will feel after some days. I gotta say, especially now that we agreed to leave some time for sports / gym every second day, it’s been super nice. And even the promoters get to sweat with me at the hotel gyms ;) The best gym so far has been at East Hotel Hamburg, my absolute favorite. They give you strawberry smoothies when you work out and the place is super cool!

I am flying to Vienna Austria now and Riku will also join me there later tonight. So far I have been alone apart from one morning TV show in Cologne, where Riku flew in just to support my wakeup ;) Again they said at the check in at the airport that it’s a huge problem taking my guitar in the plane. It’s always the same mess. They claimed that it’s too big and it wouldn’t fit in the lockers. I tried to tell them that it does fit and that I have done this a 1000 times, but no. They had this nanny especially for me checking that nothing bad happens. I walked in the plane as usual and put my guitar up and sat down. She said oops and walked away. As always. It’s cool how they start panicking every time ;)

Next week we also go to Switzerland and then back to Germany for the Frankfurt music expo. We also play a full show there! I also heard about some great news from new Sunrise Avenue countries where we will actually be heading already in may. Jeeee ;)

I am so super happy with the first results with the album, single and ticket sales and of course the air play. I heard that in Germany only, they play around 1500 times of Hollywood Hills every week. Crazy… And my apologies to the ones who don’t like the song…;)

The tour start gets closer every day and I just can’t wait. I guess there are tickets only for two shows left, and not too many even in those cities. I think the good response will encourage us to book another round in SEP-DEC this year. A longer and a bigger one ;)

So, have a great Sunday everyone and enjoy the sun just like me here in Vienna. It started raining in Cologne as I left, but still after the long and cold winter even a 15-degree nice spring rain feels so damn great!

I will take a nap now, we’ll land soon and I have to look tired so Riku knows that I have been working my ass of for us.

Thank you all again for yesterday & the whole week and see you very soon!

Samu

PS: Norosella taitaa pannu keittää…. IFK <3

Blog from 10. April 2011

Samu

Then we take Berlin!

Vienna, Munich, Ulm, Stuttgart, Lucerne, Zurich, Frankfurt, Berlin

A day off – finally! I must say that it feels so damn good just sitting on my hotel room sofa after eating a HUGE Diavolo pizza at Vapiano’s with Riku. Yes, not that fat free, but the taste makes you feel like a new man. I actually have been envying Europeans for having the coolest fast food restaurant all over the place, but now finally they’re opening one in Helsinki too. There’s one customer waiting already with a drooling mouth.

It’s been a super cool trip! After a great 2 days in Vienna we have been 2 times back in Germany and we also visited Switzerland. The highlight for me in Vienna was of course meeting all the great folks again and our new favorite hotel (25 hours hotel!), but also driving my new friend’s, Mr. Bix Alex’s Porsche Magnum along the river side of Donau. He was picking us up from one radio station and I have no clue how I was able to convince him to let me drive… He said that Eros Ramazotti had also been behind that same wheel, so of course I had to have a shot ;)

Switzerland was so warm. It’s been actually a great weather all the way, but there the summer really hit us for the first time. I think that is where I got some cold when it was + 28 in the sun but still cooler in the shade. Should have listened to mom and worn something warmer. Boys and spring weather…

We played an acoustic concert actually just the 2 of us with Riku in Lucerne and it was pretty cool realizing that the songs worked really well also wit the duo-set-up. Ok, I gotta admit that we have probably never played that bad and so many wrong notes, but the audience seemed to have fun with our hassle on stage and everyone seemed to go home satisfied. We stayed at the legendary hotel Switzerhof and the view from my balcony in the morning was breathtaking. Lucerne is definitely one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It’s surrounded by snow top mountains and the old town with all the old buildings and streets are just so cool!

This weekend we were in Frankfurt at the Music Expo. It’s the world’s biggest, largest and loudest music happening and you can just imagine all the noice, dong-dong and other sounds over there. I was most of the time in my hotel room because I felt ill, but we managed to play 2 shows there. First on Friday, we played an acoustic show at the expo tent and that was a bit painful with my throat. Still with the help of the loud crowd, I guess we did fine. With some Jägermeister….

Last night we played at the Frankfurt Zoo, a show presented by the radio station HR3. I have to admit that I have been waiting for the moment we get to play the new songs on a big stage like that, but I had no idea that it could be SO cool. I felt like coming home after months and months of studio sessions and I am so damn happy starting the tour next week. Can’t wait! Thank you!!!! You made 5 guys from Finland very happy<3

It’s super amazing how well the album entered the charts in the first countries. I honestly didn’t expect so much! Let’s hope that Universal Music gets the wheels rolling in new areas to. If you feel like giving your local radio people some tasters of what is to come, we’d be happy if you vote for us on the local radio. That has worked pretty well everywhere so far ;)

3 more days to go and then we fly home. My own bed, ahhh… I hope the weather in Finland could start warming up now. I am so used to the nice spring already and the thought of + 3 degrees and rain isn’t yammy! Well, we will sleep in our beds for one night only and the we pack our guitars for the Voice TV cruise. That is always one hell of a party and I know I’m not gonna be the only one having Jägermeister there….

Thank you all for everything so far and see you really really soon! I will probably fall asleep while uploading this…

Samu

Blog from 02. Mai 2011

Samu

On Da Road!

Ahhhh… What a trip this has been. I have been on a few tours before but now with the new songs, great weather and super cool audiences, it’s been better than ever before. I don’t know if it’s the fact that we’re feeling more confident with the new song mixture, but I have to say I have never felt this good about any trip until now and the whole tour has been just awesome!!!

We started this trip on Thursday 12 days ago in Vienna with this little acoustic concert together with T-Mobile. It was actually a great way of getting back together with our crew and the rest of the band with a lot of time to fix all the technical stuff after a long break with shows. In Vienna we played only 45 minutes of acoustic rock, mostly new album’s songs and it was just super great. We had a lot of Emi and other business folks with us there and the night was pretty long. As usual ;)

I must admit I had missed the guys and the crew a lot on the promo trips. I was mostly alone then. It’s so great to hear the good old priceless “below the belt” tour jokes again ;) Tuomas, Mikko, Mp, Basty, Possu-Karri, merch-Toby and our new lightning engineer Pornokeisari-Timo are definitely the gang to travel with. Not to mention our dear teddy bear driver Brian, who looks exactly like Brian from Back street boys.

The “real” tour started in Berlin on Saturday after Vienna and after that we have already played Hamburg, Cologne, Halle, Stuttgart and Zurich tonight. I remember doing the first shows with the previous album (Popgasm) and then it was a bit hard getting the right track order together for the shows. This time it felt so right from the very beginning. I was a bit worried when I planned the start of the set at home before the trip, since there were 5 new album’s songs in the beginning. Doesn’t seem to bother anyone in the audience and it’s just so amazing how the people have taken the new stuff. We still play the new songs pretty much the same way they’re arranged on the album, but every day at the sound check someone has new ideas how to boost up (or to poison;) the songs. Today we focused on playing the Finnish ever greens, such as Mandoliinimies and Juice’s Rakkauden ammattilainen at the sound check. The local Swiss tech crew must have thought we are a cheap schlager band…

Touring in the summer / late spring is super great. It’s so nice to hang out at the back stages, have a walk down town on the afternoon and to sit outside after the show shower fresh with a beer or diet coke. The only minus is the heat in the rooms. Some of the clubs, especially Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne were so hot that we nearly fainted on stage. And a few people actually did in the audience. Sometimes it’s funny how someone gets carried out from the audience and they seem pretty dead somewhere at the emergency area behind the stage. As soon as a band member walks by after the show, a miracle healing happens and they wake up again for a photo together ;)

I usually sleep pretty badly because I worry and think about music business things and stuff but on this trip I have been in bed at around 2 AM and I have slept like a baby until the morning every night. Maybe the good atmosphere and great shows have given me good the sleep. And of course I have been dead tired after sweating my bony ass off on stage too. I have actually thought of writing a blog many nights but sand man just got me every time before I could hit my key board.

On Friday we were in Görisried, not the biggest metropolis in the world, but a very very cozy and cool place. The first thing I saw in the morning was a horse (from behind…) and there were huge fields of flowers and the air was super fresh. The catering folks served us lamb meat and other stuff straight from the village and even though I am not a natural food guy, I must admit it tasted better than anywhere else. We played this festival in this huge tent for 6000 people and the mood was just super great. I was actually amazed tat they got so much people in the tent (Village population 1.500) and they all sang and partied with us the whole night. After our performance we enjoyed the show of a local cover band called the Shark, and they even played Hollywood Hills. One of the best cover bands EVER, Go check them out!!! I almost jumped on stage when I heard the beginning of our song but then I thought I should not spoil their show. At that time I didn’t know the guys that well and I thought it could have been r
ude. The night together with the Shark-band guys was long and we were pretty tired the next day. It was the 5th show day in a row so you can understand.

We were supposed to have a day off in Zurich but we flew to Cologne instead with Riku, Raul & Osmo to this charity event and we played a couple of acoustic songs with Riku on stage in the evening. Because of the timing problems they had arranged a private jet for us from Zurich and our private pilot waited for us over night in Cologne and we flew back to Switzerland in the afternoon today. I first thought of saying no to the event, but then we heard that they’re collecting money for poor children and since the organization behind the thing seems to be a good one, we could not say no. This is more important than shopping in Zurich. And we saved our shopping money for flowers to mom on mother’s day next weekend. And of course it’s always cool to fly with an 8-seater Jet. I was the flight attendant serving coffee… Sami had a meeting with the Swiss drum people and he couldn’t join us. And thanx to the charity guys for sending 3 limousines for us for the whole time. We could have done with one ;)

So now I am in the upper front lounge of the bus somewhere between Munich and Saltzburg on my way to Vienna for the last show. I must say I don’t remember feeling this relaxed & happy with the band ever and the shows have been just amazing. I hope someone got a picture of the HUGE “Sunrise Avenue Swiss Crew” flag hanging from the balcony tonight and also hopefully someone filmed Raul’s dance moves ;) Thanx Swiss girls for making my wish come true. Raul needs to dance ;) Much MORE!

Thank you everyone so so so much for the great evenings together again. One more show to go, kinda sad… We will give you everything we have left in our systems on stage for you tomorrow at Vienna Arena. I hope there’s some time for shopping before the sound check. There is a very cool shop in the center, don’t remember the name, but I’ll kill my credit card there for sure. I also hope my local friend Big Alex will be waiting for us tomorrow with his Porsche Magnum and I can drive. 560 Horse power, ahhhh ;)

Good night everyone & Rock you soon,

Samu

PS. Thank you Finland & Germany / Universal & EMI folks for the gold awards. You have no idea how cool it feels. Thank You!!!

PPS: It’s not too bad playing a guitar with the Finnish Champion’s logo on stage every night. Check the pics on Facebook… ai ai ai IFK ;)

Blog from 13. Mai 2011

Samu

Thank You Estonia!

I just came home feeling a little bit tired after sleeping 3,5 hours last night in Tallinn after the show and the after party. But I feel good ;)

We have been to our southern neighbor Estonia only once before and that trip was about the Estonian music awards last winter and then we only performed 2 songs. Actually that was the 1st time we performed “Hollywood Hills” ever. Of course the TV shows are always a lot of fun but we have been really waiting for a chance to play our full show in Tallinn too.

We didn’t know what to expect from the club and the audience and as we were treated so great by the listeners every night on our tour in Central Europe just a few weeks ago, we agreed not to expect too much. Especially since it was the first visit over there.

The show last night was a showcase arranged by Universal Music Baltics and we performed together with a very cool and progressive rock band from Finland, The Von Hertzen Brothers. These guys have played in the legendary Finnish bands the last 15 years and I have huge respect for them. Now they have released albums on their own and they have some pretty cool stuff. Just go check them out.

The night was awesome! The club “Rock Café” was built into this old industrial building and had this cool vibe combining the old and the new. Everyone was super professional and the audience was just super amazing. It feels so good when you play your first show in a new country and you don’t expect much and then they surprise you just like we were surprised last night. Thank you so much everyone and hope to see you all soon at the Estonian Rabarock festival next month!!!

The von Hertzen guys are very cool and their music is way more credible than ours and there has always been this communication barrier between us since we represent different music styles. I am very happy we tare down the genre walls last night and I gotta say the guys were really great. Both on stage and also behind it. And we had a great night out together with all the music & entertainment industry folks from the North. And Saaga Vodka as usual…;)

It’s been very great chilling out for a while after the 11-week promotion & tour period and suddenly the summer has arrived in Helsinki too. There are still a few weeks until we start the festival season and there are some very very great slots this summer for us. Just check the website for details. I know that there will be more than they have announced yet. They give the information on some of the shows closer to the date. That’s a marketing / promotion plan or something ;)

Tonight is all about my sofa, some good food and beer and the FIN-RUS semifinal ice hockey game. In 30 minutes actually. Sweden just won their semifinal, so they’re gonna be waiting for us on Sunday playing for the brightest glory this year. But Russia is a very very big challange and I am crossing all my fingers soon. You can do it too if you wanna help ;)

Thank you all very much and see you very soon.

Hugs,

Samu

Blog from 23. Mai 2011

Samu

Stockholm Syndrome

I just got back home from a promotion trip to Sweden and I am eating the most delicious chicken pasta in the world. Our flight was delayed in Stockholm for an hour and all the rumors started spreading about the dust cloud from Iceland being already here and I started thinking about booking a hotel room at the Hilton airport, as I have done a few times before with some flight problems. But we got home this time.

The bad thing about the new volcano dust issue is, that the festival season starts next weekend and I really don’t wanna end up cancelling any of them because a mountain somewhere. But we keep our fingers crossed…

It was great being in Stockholm with the band after a long break. With our new album, we are signed to Universal music outside the German speaking part of Europe and I must say the first moments and sessions with our new partner have been really really great everywhere. It’s great to have also the world’s biggest label working with us and they seem to know what they’re doing. Of course nobody is expecting any miracles anywhere and we all know how hard it is to break a band in a new country, but we believe that with the new setup we can make shows and stuff happening in new places soon.

Actually yesterday we filmed a short clip for the show we will have in Belgium next month and everyone says the “Q-show” show hosted by Q music is one of the coolest you can do over there. First time in Belgium for us. Jeeee ;)

In Sweden things looked very good now as well. After doing pretty many shows and festivals in 2007 and selling gold with “Fairytale gone bad,” the only trips to Sweden have been to studios & song writing sessions. Now we had a chance to perform at Sweden’s biggest radio station Rix FM’s city festival in Stockholm and I guess we’ll do another one later this year. We’ll also try to get a club show there on tour in the fall. Our new UNI team has done a good job!

Stockholm is so nice. I remember when I was 15 or something we went over there with my friends to see the pretty girls over there and to buy cooler clothes than what was available in Helsinki. Shopping is still very good in Stockholm and I was barely able to close my suit case this evening… We have always been a bit jealous to the Swedes, they usually win us in all the sports, especially ice hockey (apart from this year’s finals ;) and they have all the cool brands from Ikea to H&M compared to our very few success stories. And of course they have been ruling the European music scene with all their artists and international contacts for decades.

We stayed at the Nobis Hotel at Norrmalmstorg, my new favorite hotel in Stockholm and we heard that the expression “Stockholm syndrome” comes from that very building. The hotel used to be a bank back in the days and they had a hostage situation in 1973. I guess it’s this session where the people held by the bank robbers start feeling sympathy for the bad guys. And I thought that it’s called Helsinki syndrome… So they even invented the syndrome ;)

The festival season starts this week and we are so waiting for the moment we can jump on stage to play and sing with you all. I hope the weatherman will be kind to us. And if it rains it rains. We will still have shelter from the rain on stage, poor you ;) I am sure it’s gonna be great!!

Sleep well everyone and see you very soon,

Samu

Blog from 08. June 2011

Samu

Let’s festival!

I am sitting on a plane to Brussels, Belgium. We have our first trip there as a band and it feels great! I already did a phone interview for their local Q-radio at 6 AM at Helsinki airport. It was 5 AM in Brussels. Who the hell listens to the radio that early or is even awake… Not me, usually.

It’s always so cool going to new countries to play a few songs. We have some TV and other interviews on the afternoon and in the evening we play at “The Qube”, this small local thing that Adele did just before us, for example. We heard it’s this extremely small room with a very small crowd. And we play acoustic only. Having totally new folks listening to your songs is always also a challenge and that’s cool. Nobody probably sings our songs with us tonight and that is something new since it usually happens in cities & countries where we’ve been more. Today we start from a scratch. A challenge. Me like!

We fly back already tonight. It was so cool driving my car into the garage at the airport in the morning sunshine knowing that I’d be in my own bed in the night again, pretty late though. All respect to hotel beds but we get enough of them and especially in the summer it’s so cool waking up at home. Morning coffee on your own balcony can’t be beaten. And at home you don’t need to check out or explain the cleaning lady you’d like to sleep another 20 minutes. Not too often anyway… Or to remember what you have taken from the minibar.

The Euro crisis is on but even though we arrive in the financial capital of our currency Euro, we don’t have time to fix the money problems today. Our country boy drummer Sami might be pretty good at the job looking at how he is handling his own companies. Next time then. You ministers, ambassadors and other guys with ties just try to hang in there…

The summer has really started now. Even in Helsinki. Yesterday I got sunburned bicycling all around the city – it was so HOT. I had to get myself a new Tumi ® bag for these one day trips and the right model (the same that Raul has for years and I’ve been jealous) was hard to find, so I ended up going around the city for hours with my bike wearing a tank top. As I got back home in the evening after playing basketball, I realized my shoulders were as red as a fire truck. I never learn…

It’s been so cool playing at the festivals. Only one night was pretty cold so far and now it seems as if it’s getting hotter and hotter. Last Saturday we had the first real summer heat feelings on stage. They said it was +44 during our show with all the lights and stuff in Cologne.
(They’re serving some plane snacks and sandwiches. I guess I can eat the cucumber sandwich by now. Isn’t the crisis over…)

This week we will also play in Finland after a long long break. There are two festivals in Helsinki on Saturday and Sunday. First the festival of the Finnish betting agency (I wonder what was their bet for the SWE-FIN football game last night…) and then on Sunday the “Helsinki Day” together with the top line artists from my country. It’s kind of a shame that we missed all the bigger festivals in Finland this year. I love driving to the summerhouse or home after the show through the beautiful landscapes on Finland in the summer. With sunshine in the night. It smells so good!

We are already planning the tour for the fall. It’s SUPER AMAZING how much the tickets have sold!!! I had a long meeting last Friday in Cologne with our tour agent about some new cities in totally new Sunrise Avenue countries. I guess we will have some news and info pretty soon. I love the idea of playing in very small clubs in some new places. And there are so many songs already on the three albums to choose from. Exciting ;) The crew guys have some very cool ideas regarding the stage and production. And we all have ideas about the arrangements and stuff. Can’t wait to start the rehearsals…

The new single “I don’t Dance” is about being delivered to the radios in the first countries (It’s amazing that Hollywood Hills has been aired all the way from January. Time flies…) and we’d appreciate everyone supporting the new song again. We have a pretty cool video treatment idea from our dear friend video director for that song too. Let’s hope we can make everything match, timetables etc.
Ok, we’re ready to land now and I gotta put my MacBook Air in it’s case. Thank you all for the great nights at the festivals so far and see you very soon!

Hugs,

Samu

Blog from 13. June 2011

Samu

Kiitos Suomi!!

(In Finnish Only)

Olipahan siisti viikonloppu Helsingissä. Mä en tiedä mistä johtuu aina se pieni skeptinen olo kun valmistaudun suomikeikkoihin. Kai se kotikentän paine on aina eri kuin jos ollaan ulkomailla.

Me startattiin meidän Helsinki-City-Boy-Tour perjantaina Kaarle XII 35-vuotis synttäreillä. Oli aika hienoa makoilla koko päivä rannalla Munkkiniemessä, jossa merivesi oli oikeasti about 20 astetta. Kävin uimassa pitkiä lenkkejä ja oli ihan Välimerenmeininki. Ei levää eikä roskaa ja ihana trooppinen päivä. Poljin fillarilla vielä Voicelle haastatteluun ja sieltä ”Kalleen” superkuumalle keikalle. Noi yksityisbileet / erikoistapahtumat on aina vähän niin ja näin fiiliksen suhteen, mutta nyt oli kylä hyvä meno. Ja jumalauta että oli kuuma. Meidän manageri Mikko oli ollut kolme ekaa biisiä yleisössä ja oli kuulemma meinannut pyörtyä. Se sanoi että ”kai ne tykkäsivät keikasta kun eivät lähteneet vilvoittelemaan.”

Perjantaina oli Veikkauksen festarit Kaisaniemessä. Alla oli jälleen kunnon rantapäivä, tällä kertaa ihanassa Uunisaaressa Helsingin edustalla, jossa merivesi oli kaikkea muuta kuin lämmintä. Mutta ilma sitäkin lämpimämpää. Kyllä on pakko sanoa että Suomen kesä on parasta silloin kun se on näin lämmin. Sataa tai paistaa. Veikkausfestareilla oli meidän lisäksemme muitakin kotimaisia artisteja, mm. Mun ikilemppari Happoradio. Mulla edelleen menee kylmät väreet kun kuulen radiosta niiden ”Puhu äänellä jonka kuulen.” Mä oon pari kertaa jäänyt parkkipaikalle kotitalon edessä kuuntelemaan sen biisin loppuun. Aki tekee maailman kauniimmat lyriikat.

Veikkauskeikka oli todella siisti kokemus ja todella hienosti hoidettu paketti ainakin meille artisteille. Mä vähän säikähdin kun hyppäsin lavalta alas ”destinyn” lopussa ja lava taisi olla vähän korkeampi kuin luulin. Vissiin 2,5 metriä. Mutta pääsin takaisin ylös kameramiehen avustuksella.

Huomenna oli ehkä eilisen keikkakesän kohokohta Helsingissä Radio Aallon festareilla. Kattaus oli kotimaisittain aika kova ja mukana olivat kaikki kärkiartistit Vartiaisen Jennistä Happoradioon ja VHB:n veljeksiin. Oli ihanaa huomata että kotimaassakin jengi jaksaa dikkailla meitä välillä ihan Eurooppatyyliin ja tuli vähän haikea olo kun tajusimme että kotimaassa ei ole koko loppukesänä kuin yksi festari. Ehkä ensi vuonna sitten. Toki meidän pitää mennä bändin kanssa aina sinne missä rauta on kuumaa ja missä kysyntä on kovinta. Onneksi koko kesä on ihan tupaten täyteen buukattu tänä vuonna.

Keikan jälkeen mun piti ensin mennä kotiin ja tehdä vähän ”työjuttuja” mutta kaverit saivat mut houkuteltua vasta-avattuun Vapianoon Mikonkadulle. Vapiano on maailman coolein pikaruokaravintolakonsepti. Me mietittiin pitkään bändin kundien kanssa että oltaisiin tuotu ravintola suomeen, mutta joku muu ehti ensin. Vapiano on siis Italialainen pikaruokaravintola. Me ollaan nautittu sen herkuista jo vuosia Euroopassa ja on ihme että Suomeen avattiin ensimmäinen vasta nyt. Mun ehdottomat lempparit ovat (#3) Rapupasta, (#2) Rucola-parmankinkkupizza ja (#1) kirkkaana ykkösenä Italialaisista makkaroista väännetty tulinen pasta, johon sain ystäväni Villen rakastumaan eilen myös. Muahahhaa. Vanha lomaosakemyyjä iski jälleen…

Vapianon terassilla tuli sitten notkuttua niin pitkään että auto piti jättää kaupunkiin ja päädyimme porukalla M-baarin terassille, missä oli hurjat jamit. Lavalla kävi Santanan tyyppejä, joilla on keikka tänään Helsingissä ja mm. Tuomo Prättälä joka ei koskaan jätä kylmäksi. Taisi meidän Rikukin käydä jammailemassa mukana. Sunnuntai on hyvä baaripäivä kun taksijonot ovat inhimilliset. Pääsin (kuulemma) kolmen aikaan kotiin Töölön Grillin kautta kotiin tuplamunalihiksen ja ranskalaisten kanssa. Ai että nukutti ;)

Nyt on poplaulajan vapaapäivä ja kukaan ei tarvitse minua tänään. Mä aion vain nauttia ihanan raikkaasta sateentuoksusta ja makoilla parvekkeella kitaran kanssa. Huomenna vasta menen salille ja lenkille ja käyn tsekkaamassa uudet kausikorttipaikat HIFK-hallista ensi kaudeksi. Ensi vuoden jengi näyttää aika hyvältä. Vielä Järventien tontille joku kiekollinen pakki ja toivottavasti Jarkko R. möyhimään laidalle, niin avot! Ensimmäiset vapaat pitkään aikaan.

Hyvää kesää kaikille ja iso kiitos koko viikonlopusta. Teitte meistä taas kerran kovin onnellisia. Nähdään Heinäkuussa Down By The Laiturissa!!!

Samu

Blog from 20. June 2011

Samu

Estonia, Germany, Switzerland, Poland

I slept so well last night!(i dont sleep very well last night) We were back at the hotel in Bremerhaven at 10PM, went to sauna & swimming pool area with the band & crew. Then a heavy dinner and everyone went to bed. I don’t remember sleeping that well… I had strange nightmares about this huge river where I was struggling not to drown and all the others were just enjoying the cool water on a nice summer day with their families. Me and my mental stuff…;)

We are on the way to Kiel, Northern Germany to this Kieler Woche festival. I guess the whole thing is something about sailing boats and stuff, but there’s also stages and clubs for bands and we are also performing there tonight. We still must avoid fresh green stuff. I heard the worst is over with the German vegetable disaster, but I wouldn’t wanna get sick right now.

We started our festival week in Estonia at Rabarock on Friday. We had played only one club show in Estonia in Tallinn before the trip last Friday and I was expecting a pretty small & quiet crowd. It can be like that when you go to new cities for the first time. It was also raining the whole day and it’s wasn’t that warm either. I must say the audience was one of the best this year! The show was so much fun that Osmo even broke his keyboard raiser ;)
One of my favorite bands, Filter, would have been performing at Rabarock on Saturday and it’s a huge shame we had to leave. To get the best out of this blog, listen to “No Love” from their latest album “The trouble with angels.” My favorite album so far is “the amalgamunt.” Great modern hifi-rock!

We had a communication misunderstanding with the stage time in Estonia. We had different kind of messages from the stage staff about how much time we have left on stage and we skipped one song from the set. It always better to play a bit less than going over the given 60 minutes for example. There is always the next band waiting for their build up time, and the worst some bands do is that they just play and play and then the next band has no time to fix everything in time. When we heard that there actually would have been 4-5 minutes more time with the great crowd, we all got a bit angry. We really would have wanted to play more that day. Was a great trip. Thank you all very much!!! Hope to see you soon again!

After sleeping one night in my own bed, we played yesterday in Bremerhaven, Germany. The weather was really cold, as it’s obviously been all over Europe for the last days. We are traveling for 8 days now and we all brought only shorts and warm weather stuff with us. So when we heard that the show last night was indoors, it was very good news. It was pretty cool playing inside again after a short break. It’s cool how the lights and stuff work as they’re supposed to when you have a dark arena around you. The crowd was just amazing! I guess there weren’t that many Sunrise Avenue regulars / fans yesterday, but when we left the stage, they were all hands up. Me like ;)

So today we play in Kiel and right after the set we will try to shoot one of my personal photo ideas together with Marion, one of our in-house photographers. She also shot the cover for the new single “I don’t dance.”

Tomorrow we have a day off in Zurich, Switzerland and I hope the weather is good. I really wanna go out with my camera and to do some sports.

On Wednesday we play at the Sursee festival and it’s so cool getting back to Switzerland again. I must look good at that show because my hair stylist is coming over there with his 4 friends. I know he is a pretty bad party animal, so we’ll see how long we can stand Jussi and the boys ;)

On Thursday we are in Schopfheim for a day off. I really don’t know anything about the city but I guess I’ll find some targets for my camera there too. On Friday we are headlining a festival there too. Headliners, jee ;)
On Saturday morning we fly to Poland after a very very long break. I don’t know how long it’s been, maybe 2-3 years but the coolest thing is that the Polish fans / folks have been on our side all the way. We are headlining this city festival in Warsaw. So cool! I hope we can add a Polish show on the tour in autumn too.

On Sunday we drive down to Zielona Gora (in Poland) for this other festival. Last time we did it in 2007, they had about 150.000 viewers and I still remember those three helicopters circling above the audience during the show. Last time we drove down there from Warsaw, the 400 Km took 11 hours and I heard that someone got fired after the festival because we almost missed the show and we had only 11 minutes (!!!) to prepare the whole gear for the 150.000 viewers!!! We were standing behind the stage ready to start and then one of the local production guys asked Jukka (the guy who used to play Keys with us then): “What you do in the band?” Jukka said he plays keyboards. The guy answered “What Keyboards? You need keyboards??” They had 8 minutes left to get him the right kind of keys… All went well…;)

After Poland we fly home and then on Tuesday we start shooting our new “I Don’t Dance” Video in Lithuania. Cross your fingers for us. The director Misko has already proven his directing skills with “Welcome to my life” so I bet the quality & stuff will be great!! But more about the video later…

So… Even though the weather is what it is at some places now, try to enjoy the summer and behave well…
Rock you soon,

Samu

PS: Timo “pornokeisari” Saarinen, our lightning designer & engineer gave me a “Chicago Erotic” T-shirt yesterday. It’s a sex exhibition in Lahti, Finland this summer that he is responsible for. Go check it out on facebook.

Blog from 07. July 2011

Samu

Heavy Turbulence

Here I am again 10 Kilometers above the Eastern Sea inside the Finnair Airbus A319 on my way to the festivals. The turbulence is heavier than ever this summer and I am stuck with my seat. There might be some thunderstorms on the way.

We play two shows in Austria (Graz & Linz) this week and then one acoustic radio show with Riku in Mannheim on Friday and then on Saturday the big festival Arena Of Pop, In Mannheim too. In Mannheim there will be some family watching our actions again after a little break and we must remember to behave well.

We were finally in Poland two weeks ago after a long break (3 years, I guess) and the trip was super nice. I was amazed how great the city of Warsaw actually is, and especially the old town was beautiful. My mom and little brother fell in love with it too. I have felt kind of bad because the Polish folks have supported us all the way from the beginning but we had no real festival or club shows there before. Now we performed at the “official summer start” festival and the crowd was somewhere between 100 and 120 thousand. The stage and all were very great and the only thing that was a bit annoying was the band before us on stage that played 20 minutes too long. Totally uncool! That meant we had to skip a few songs from the set. It was raining like hell but the crowd stayed there. Nice. I came to the catwalk a few times to join the wet crowd. I love to do that when it rains. There must be a little dog inside me ;) The next day we performed a few songs in Zielona Gora at this TV show and after that the party was
pretty hard. The hotel manager was just so friendly and he wanted to offer us all the Polish beers…

Last weekend we had only one show booked, NRJ in The Park Berlin. It’s this very cool yearly lakeside festival hosted by NRJ Berlin and as we had been there before in 2008 and we had lots of fun then, I had been waiting for that evening for quite some time. Riku was already in Berlin a few days before with some friends and I was kind of shocked when he called me the day before that the weather was really cold and windy over there. What happened to the nice German summer??? We had all the special kind of warm stage clothes and stuff with us and we actually even bought some more down town. On the afternoon we went to Vapioano (again;) to have a good lunch so we could rock the whole evening. The Italian sausage pasta is my favorite.

I woke up after my nap in my hotel room at 4 PM to our tour manager’s message saying the festival was cancelled. At that festival the stage is built on a lake and you get up on stage with these boats. On a lovely summer day it’s cool, sure, but when the weather is bad, it can be dangerous. It was actually our very first festival ever cancelled due to weather conditions. We had a close call in Switzerland last week but the thunderstorm went away just before us and James Blunt. Even though James had his own little thunders back stage. Anyway… I hope we can make it next year to the 10th anniversary in Berlin.

Since there was no show on Saturday in Berlin, we decided to have a good dinner in Restaurant DUDU, my favorite place in town. We had some friends with us from Finland and that was the least we could offer them. And after DUDU we went to the NRJ after party just for one drink. And a few more. We got back to the hotel just before we were supposed check out. I felt sick for two days (Heavy Turbulence) after the party. Never again ;)

We were in Lithuania last week filming the new video for the second single “I Don’t Dance.” The idea is to bring the whole song & band to the 70’s and to have a little story around the performance. I really love the looks we had and the whole team did a really good job. Actually the video is pretty much done already and there are only a few little details they’re fixing before we let it out. I don’t know the release date yet, but we’ll keep you informed.

It was my first trip ever to Lithuania and I must say I was very positively surprised. They seem to have some great knowhow in filming and especially in special costumes and stuff. We were told that a lot of Hollywood productions have been partly filmed there for years because of the low costs and also because of the cool and fresh locations. We had more than a hundred people working with us and everybody was super nice. Special thanx to our personal assistant “Madam Boss.” And I must say I felt sorry for the folks from Poland and Lithuania who decided to come to Berlin the next weekend for our no-show… What can I say…

We stayed at the heart of the old town and it was a very beautiful spot and I must say the food was better than anywhere else. No matter what restaurant we took. And the prices were low. I don’t know if Lithuania is a great beach holiday destination, but for the city trip it was perfect! Thank you so much everyone at the shootings!! You did a really good job!

(Note: Damn these Finnair sandwiches taste good! Last time they served cranberry chicken – Yammy!! - and now it was this great mayonnaise-tuna. Mmmmm…)

After these two festivals in Austria and the two shows in Mannheim Germany, I will stay in Central Europe for a few weeks. Or even more south, depends on the weather. Lucerne, Lakes of Italy, Croatia, something. We have 3 shows at the end of next week and I don’t mind driving a bit with a fast German car.

Thank you everyone so much for the great moments again. There’s still plenty to come this summer. And make sure you get your tickets in time for the tour. Many of the clubs are already sold out. There are some challenges with the new dates in new cities and countries, but I am sure we can announce something after the summer – the latest before the next one.

(After the festival show in Graz, Austria)

I must say I was a bit tired and feeling a bit low when we took the plane this morning from Helsinki and I slept super bad last night. After the 6th song tonight, I remembered again how great all this is and I just wanted to say thank you to all you lovely people who come to our shows and make our shows perfect. Now I will sleep like a baby. You have no idea how important you all are to us and how much your support means to us. Thank You!!

Now I will have a glass of wine (I stole a bottle from the backstage) and see a few episodes of Dexter – the serial killer. I am totally addicted ;)

Rok You Soon,

Samu

PS: We had nothing to do with Osmo last week, so we decided to go to Switzerland and back with bicycles. It was fun! Yes, yes. We started the trip from Bad Säckingen, Germany and the distance to Switzerland was 200 meters… But still we didn’t fall once!! I wonder why people say my jokes are bad…

Blog from 07. July 2011

Samuel

Eins Zwei Polizei

We had one of the coolest rides today in Austria from Graz to Linz. First our car broke down TWICE and as they gave up with that Opel minivan, we were already very late from the schedule. We got a taxi from Graz finally after waiting at a gas station for an hour and all seemed to be fine since we had two hours for the last 113 kilometers.

When we had 26 kilometers to go, they had to organize the police to escort us (in a CAB!!!) to the festival because of the huge traffic jam. We had been standing still for 30 minutes and without the cops, we would not have made it. We were nearly killed as the motorcycle cop drove super fast in front of us and our drives was trying to hang in. It was only a matter of seconds us hitting this big timber truck and I must say we were totally stressed as we arrived at the back stage. Of course it’s important to arrive in time, but maybe we can skip a song or two to stay alive.

We had 3 minutes to prepare ourselves before the show, but because of the GREAT Austrian crowd again, the evening was just great!!

Now we are sitting at the hotel in Linz ready for a late checkout tomorrow to Germany. Thank you again Austria and the Austrian Police for a great experience ;)

We’ll be back in Linz in August,

Samu

Blog from 01. August 2011

Samu

Suomi Finland Perkele!!!

(Only In Finnish)

Ajelin äsken kotiin Turusta Down By The Laituri-keikalta ja olo on maailman ihanin!!!! Okei, siihen auttaa myös tää raikas ja vähän viileämpi yö, jollaisia ei Munkkiniemessä ole vähään aikaan koettu. Vaikka ei lämpimästä kesästä oikein viitsi Suomalaisena valittaa…

Olipahan aivan mahtava keikka!!! Lavalla oli niin kuuma että taju meinasi lähteä pariin otteeseen ja menin itse asiassa kerran kyykkyyn mikin taakse kun tuntui että silmissä sumenee. Mutta se oli sen arvoista. Pakko myöntää että suomessa usein yleisö ottaa meidät usein vähän eri tavalla kuin muualla, mutta eilisessä rokkiteltassa oli meno kuin Rock Am Ringillä konsanaan. Superia!! Ja viimeinkin mä pääsin vetämään mun suuren musiikki-idolini Märkä-Simon laineja omalle yleisölle. Oon odottanut mahdollisuutta ja eilen se unelma toteutui ;) Ulkomailla toi Jere&Villegallen biisi ei ole ihan yhtä iso hitti kuin täällä.

Me pidettiin just pari viikon loma ja oikeastaan ainoa asia mitä ollaan auringonoton ja uiskentelun lisäksi tehty oli Pitkä Kuuma Kesä Särkäniemessä viime viikolla Rikun kanssa ja nyt siis Turun keikka. Mua skidisti harmittaa että nää olivat suomen ainoat vedot kesällä toukokuisten Veikkausfestarien ja Helsinkipäivän lisäksi, mutta toivotaan että ensi kesänä olisi sitten enemmän. Ja vaikka nokkela toimittaja kirjoitti Iltasanomissa alkukesästä että meille ei riitä suomen keikkapalkkiot ja aikaiset esiintymisajat, niin kyllä meitä kovasti täällä kotomaassa kutkuttaisi esiintyä. Hassua on että juuri kun tuon haastattelun annoin, olimme soittaneet juuri keskellä päivää ilmaiseksi. Mitkä palkkiot…???? Kai se repivä otsikko pitää tehdä vaikka väkisin.

Eli nyt vaan kaikki 2012 festarityypit Livenationin Elinaan yhtyettä ;)

Syksyllä me tehdään meidän Euroopan kiertueen ensimmäinen osa, jossa on Suomen lisäksi etupäässä Saksaa, Itävaltaa ja Sveitsiä. Joulun jälkeen jatketaan uusiin maihin ja katsotaan josko saataisiin ympättyä muutama suomikeikka sekaan keväällekin.

Mä kuuntelin matkalla kotiin Teleks-yhtyeen uutta albumia. Jumalauta että on hieno!! Oli jotenkin haikea fiilis kun ajelin pimeää moottoritietä ja pojat lauloi ”kotimatkalla-” kapalettaan. Pakko sanoa että kadehdin herrojen tekstinkirjoitusta. Hienoa musaa!!

Kiitos teille ihanat ihmiset eilen Turussa ja Särkänniemessä viime viikolla! Teitte meidät todella onnellisiksi (ja hikisiksi;) ja nähdään pian uudestaan. Erikoiskiitos Sunrise Avenue Finland porukan tytöille ja onnea hienosta artikkelista Turun Sanomissa. Mä en tiedä mitä me ollaan tehty urallamme oikein, mutta pakko sanoa että meillä on maailman ihanimmat fanit & kannustusjoukot. Te ootte ihanan ymmärtäväisiä ja todella hyvä tyyppejä valtaosa. Meitä ei olisi ilman teitä. Kiitos <3

Muistakaa nauttia kesästä ja ladata akkuja. Me tarvitaan taas syksyllä teidän kannustustanne kun illat pimenevät ;) Nyt mä teen munavoita karjalanpiirakoiden kaveriksi ja sävellän mun uuden biisin valmiiksi parvekkeella. Aika siistiä ;)

Samu

Blog from 10. August 2011

Samu

It’s raining in Monk Bay

I don’t know why I love sitting on this balcony when it rains. Maybe it’s my melancholic mind that feels calm when the weather is very dark and dramatic or something, but I just love the sound of rain. Actually tonight we have even thunders, so the night could not be more perfect!

We are back in business again after the summer holiday. Well, it’s still pretty easy with only one or two shows pre weekend, but it’s actually a good way to start the band life again with easy steps.

The summer has been super great! For the first time in our short history, every show has been super great and I just love the feeling and the mood in the band. Of course it helps when the radios are playing our songs as much as they do and many festival visitors know some words even from the new album’s songs.

We had three weeks off. Well, there was one weekend in Germany with three festivals and one TV show in Finland but still that didn’t spoil the holiday mood. It was the first time we had some real time off in the summer after we released the first album in 2006. This break was a very good opportunity to think about the band and everything that happened after and before releasing “Out Of Style” in March. As soon as the first single “Hollywood Hills” was released to the radios, I have been constantly on the road alone or with the guys and this holiday gave me a good chance to process my thoughts a bit. About what happened.

Before March 2011, I must say we were in a funny situation. The previous album didn’t do that well and many professionals in the industry even said Sunrise Avenue is a one hit wonder that had the moment already. And I kind of understand their analysis. Why we felt different is of course the handful of people we consider our “Inside team” and most of all you people! I told some of the doubters last year that they should come see our shows and to check out how great and loyal the fans & supporters of Sunrise Avenue have been even though there was no massive chart success with the previous album. And we thought with the guys that ok, even if we never archive another massive hit together with our supporters, we’d still love to keep on doing this circus together on a lower level.

What I am trying to say here is that after lying by a Croatian swimming pool for a while I realized how great things are. It feels so great that we can - all the band, fans, friends and our team - show the middle finger to the ones who didn’t believe in us. I feel like doing “high-five” with every single one of you! I can never tell you how much we appreciate your support and how much you all mean to us.

So… Now we are slowly losing the sun tan we managed to get in the summer and we are getting ready for the tour and the challenges before Christmas. Actually the autumn looks great. We still have many shows to keep our minds busy and to try little new stuff and arrangements on stage for the tour. We are so happy that many of the venues & Clubs have been upgraded to bigger ones because of the great ticket pre sales. We will do everything we can to make it the best Sunrise Avenue evening ever!

(It’s actually mid day already, I almost fell asleep last night listening to the rain so I finish this now…)

I just came from the gym (second week after the break, still hurts…) and will have a shower now to get fresh for this meeting down town Helsinki.

Thank you all for the great summer so far and Rock you very soon again!

Hugs,

Samu

PS: To get the best out of this blog, listen to Savage Garden’s “Affirmation.” I can’t get enough of it and the lyrics - one of the best pop lyrics ever written! Actually the whole album is great, but that track is my favorite. There are a lot of negative news about finance crisis, riots and shit going around in the world and it’s good to just sit down and breathe every now and to remember that the sun will rise again tomorrow, no matter what. I used to listen to this track a lot when I lived in Spain some years ago feeling mostly very lost and lonely. It helped. The world would be a bad place without music…

Blog from 20. August 2011

Samu

A hot night in Linz, Austria

I was pretty nervous when we flew to Austria this morning because I was very sick with fever and all last week and it always takes a few days to recover fully. There’s nothing worse than a great audience when your body is just not ready for the action. I had a lot of medicine before the show and I also took a glass of whiskey on stage and some Vicks throat pastilles to make it through the night.

Now, after the show, I am sitting in my hotel room in the center of Linz and I am feeling very happy! What a great show again and what a great crowd!! It wasn’t easy and it was a bit hard singing with the pastilles in my mouth, but it was more than worth the effort. I really don’t know what has happened the last months but the shows just feel more and more relaxed every week. The highlight of the evening was the huge HOLLYWOOD sign the lovely girls in the first row lifted up in the beginning on Hollywood Hills. The letters were huge and I am sure it looked great on TV. They estimated the crowd size from 30.000 to 40.000 but anyway it was one of the greatest nights this summer!

Because of the early wakeup and my and Sami’s summer-flu-healing-process, we had to leave the back stage right away after the show, but we had a nice surprise at the hotel. Usually there are more girls than guys in our audience and also at the signing session, but this time it was only guys! A big crowd of guys from Romania had driven with their cars to see our show all the way to Austria. Great! Very nice people. I haven’t heard about a show being planned in Romania, but I just sent a message to our management & European tour agent to fix it if possible. It’s been already 3 years since we visited the country last time.

The tour start is getting closer and again today we had a planning session with the band & crew about what new stuff we wanna do on stage. I am very happy with the way the whole tour is getting together now. It’s amazing how many show dates they have already announced for next year too. And we already have festivals booked for next summer, crazy ;) Seems, as we will have a pretty busy year next year too. I think they will announce more dates for spring for more countries (I might have some inside information;) Even to places where we have never been to before. I remember that I have promised that to you - so don’t worry! We’re on it!

We will be on our way to Finland already at 6 in the morning, so the night will not be long… Looks like the summer finally got to Central Europe too. It’s 11PM 28 degrees Celsius. The summer is NOT over yet!

I will have a glass of wine and watch a Finnish movie “Veijarit” starring my friend Mikko Leppilampi now and hopefully I will fall asleep soon. In Finnish “Veijarit” sounds like a bunch of dicks and I hope the story is not about that…

See you all soon and thank you so much for the night again!!! Schlaf gut Österreich!

Hugs,

Samu

Blog from 15. September 2011

Samu

Viihdeuutisia

(A few words in Finnish)

Mua jäi suuresti harmittamaan toimittaja Merja Asikaisen Iltasanomiin kirjoittama juttu viime keväänä Helsinki-päivän konsertin yhteydessä. Jutussa annettiin kuva että meitä ei kiinnosta esiintyä Suomessa, koska täällä meille maksetaan liian vähän ja joutuisimme soittamaan päiväsaikaan. Merjan jutussa on hassua etenkin se, että heti haastattelun jälkeen kiipesimme lavalle Suvilahdessa keskellä päivää - ilman palkkiota. Oli mahtava yleisö ja taas aivan ihanaa! Me meinasimme jo silloin kommentoida asiaa, mutta annettiin asian olla kun uskomme että valtaosa ajattelevasta kansasta osaa nykyään lukea viihdeuutisten otsikoita niiden ansaitsemalla vakavuudella ja enemmistöähän varmasti moinen juttu ei edes kiinnosta. Puolet eilisessä Elämä Lapselle- konsertin toimittajista kysyivät asiaan kommenttia. Eli miksi soitamme paremmalla liksalla ja suuremmille yleisöille keikkoja ulkomailla? Tarvitseeko tuohon edes vastata? Miksi Selänne pelaa Anaheimissa?

Sunrise Avenue on meille rakas bändi ja olemme poikien kanssa todella hyviä ystäviä. Mä tekisin tätä hommaa tällä porukalla ihan harrastuksenakin vaikka siitä ei saisi leipäänsä kuten nyt. Bändi kaikkine viiteryhmineen on myös liikeyritys ja business, joka työllistään suoraan ja välillisesti ruuhkabussillisen porukkaa. Etupäässä suomalaisia. Tällä porukalla on asuntolainoja, vuokramaksuja, lapsia ja muut normaalin elämän kulut ja tätä silmälläpitäen meidän on pakko tehdä ratkaisuja niin että juna pysyy liikkeessä ja kaikilla riittää leipää pöydässä. Me ollaan tehty – kuten kaikki liikeyritykset – hyviä ja huonoja ratkaisuja ja tähän asti ollaan pärjätty välillä loistavasti ja välillä rimaa hipoen. Otan itse päävastuun koko roskasta hyvässä ja pahassa. Koko tämä sirkus on mun mielestä maailman siistein juttu. Jokainen jolla on aivot päässä tiesi kaiken tämän jo lukematta mun blogiakin, mutta teille muille ihan varmuuden vuoksi.

Eräs NHL-pelaaja oli kuulemma ”dissannut” mua kusipääksi eiliselle iltapäivälehden toimittajalle, koska teemme valintojamme rahan perusteella. Erikoinen kommentti ja todella tekopyhää jeesustelua kaverilta joka on itse valinnut ”taalakaukalot.” Miksi ei itse pelaa kasvattajaseurassaan Suomessa? No ihan samasta syystä kuin miksi mekin soitamme vaikkapa Sveitsissä. NHL:ssä maksetaan enemmän, peli on kovempaa ja puitteet vielä hienommat kuin Suomessa. Ne joiden rahkeet riittävät NHL-kaukaloihin, yleensä pelaavat siellä. Sama pätee kansainvälisiin musiikkiareenoihin. Tätä ei varmasti saisi sanoa Suomessa ääneen, mutta se on totta. Siinä ei myöskään ole mitään pahaa.

Se että joku ”pääsee” NHL:ään ei ole muilta pelaajilta pois. Päinvastoin. Uusille pelaajille aukeaa näyttöpaikkoja kotikaukaloissa ja kontaktit ulkomaille paranevat kaikille. Sama musiikissa. Me ollaan viety mukanamme monta suomalaista bändiä lämppäämään meitä ulkomaille. Ulkomaisilta artisteilta saamme aina rahallisen korvauksen kun ne esiintyvät meidän yleisöillemme ennen meitä, mutta olemme halunneet jeesata omalla kustannuksellamme suomalaisia bändejä ja tarjota muillekin elämyksiä ja mahdollisuuksia vanavedessämme veloituksetta. Kaikki voittavat.

Edelliseen viitaten tulee muistaa että Sunrise Avenue on vientiyhtiö, joka hankkii lähes kaikki tulonsa ulkomailta – ja tuo kaikki killingit kiltisti Suomeen. Tällaiselle toiminnalle kannattaa kotomaassa näyttää peukkua eikä persettä, oli taloustilanne maailmalla mikä tahansa. Ja jos ei muuten vain tykkää meidän musiikistamme, meistä tai mun nuutuneesta pärstästä, eikö ole vain hienoa ettemme keikkaile Suomessa? Saatte olla rauhassa ;)

No miksi mä sitten näitä itsestäänselvyyksiä edes tänne nettiin latelen? Onhan riski että jo tänään saa jostain lukea että ”Laulaja tilittää blogissaan sitä ja tätä?” Mä kirjoitan tän teille ihanille suomalaisille ihmisille ja faneille, jotka olette tukeneet meitä koko uramme ajan. Ilman teitä me ei koskaan oltaisi päästy kiinni unelmaamme ja mä renkuttaisin kitaraani edelleen etupäässä omalla sohvallani. Mä toivon ja uskon että te tiedätte että ne valitettavan vähäiset keikat Suomessa ovat meille ihanaa nannaa ja esimerkiksi Turun Down By The Laiturin keikka oli meille yksi kiireisen kesän kohokohdista. Toivottavasti päästään ensi kesänä uudestaan.

Ei käy aina kateeksi Suomen LiveNationin Elinaa kun kotimaan festaritarjoukset jyrätään ulkomaan suurempien kuvioiden edestä, mutta ihanaa Ellu että jaksat silti painaa. Kiitos!

Me tullaan edelleen pitämään kiinni siitä että suomessa mahdollisimman moni keikka olisi ikärajaton. Me hävitään siinä joka kerta reilusti rahaa, mutta meille merkkaa enemmän se, että paikalle pääsevät ne jotka sinne haluavat. Klubille tai ravintolalle – ja sitä kautta meille - olisi kannattavampaa saada asiakkaiksi enemmän alkoholia nauttivia täysi-ikäisiä ihmisiä alaikäisten limunjuojien sijaan. Meille merkkaa enemmän se että on kivaa. Meillä ja teillä. Helsingin Circuksen keikka lokakuussa on ikärajaton, Tervetuloa! Ulkomailla ei näitä k-18 keikkoja oikein edes tunneta vaan kaikki musiikki on kaikenikäisille ja keikat alkavat iltayhdeksältä.
Hyvää syksyä & Nähdään Lokakuussa!

Samu

PS: Musta on sairaan siistiä että Veikkauksella on kisa, jossa he lennättävät kisavoittajat Itävaltaan, Wieniin meidän areenakeikalle. Se meno poikkeaa rajusti Vantaan Tulisuudelman keikasta, joka sekin on aivan helvetin siistiä – käsi sydämellä. Se on vain erilaista. (www.veikkaus.fi)

PPS: Kiitos kaikki ihanat eilisestä! Pakko sanoa että yllätyin suuresti siitä miten ihanasti otitte meidät taas kerran vastaan Hartwallilla. Ja jos joku sai videolle sen mun kohelluksen kun horjahdin ja meinasin vetää elämäni ”pannut” suorassa lähetyksessä, deletoikaa ne videot heti! ;)

Blog from 18. September 2011

Samu

New tour dates

(Dates in Finland, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, France, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic)

After a super busy summer I am sitting at home drinking café latte all alone. It’s raining outside and they say the winds are the remains of the hurricane that was spanking the eastern coast of the US last week. I don’t mind. I have a day off, ahhh ;)

Thousands of fans & people have approached us requesting a show in countries we never or barely visited. This is why after releasing our new album last spring I told our Tour Agent to take action in new countries in Europe. The shows in the new areas will be pretty small and intimate compared to the places we visited more often. And I love that! You can hear & smell everyone in the room and with these smaller clubs; the shows are always special in a different way.

Getting to play in new cities is always a challenge. Before people know you there, nobody wants to book you at their clubs. And without shows in the city, it’s hard to get the people to know you. We call this the “Chicken – Egg situation” in Finland. Who comes first, Mister egg or Madam Chicken? We decided not to be “Chicken” ;)

What you see on our official website (www.sunriseave.com) is pretty much what our schedule looks like until the end of March. There are many plans for the summer and autumn of 2012 in these countries and some more. We have divided the “October 2011 – March 2012” tour in two sections because we need to fix some show and technical details a bit different for the spring. In some countries the venues are bigger than this year and we need “Bigger stage stuff” and in some the clubs are smaller and we will focus on our4selves and the crowd. ( Did I already mention that I love that ;). These changing facilities are a huge challenge for the crew but I am sure our tech boys will make it right. And it’s also a way to keep the tour fresh and exciting for us too since every night will be even more different than usually.

There’s actually a funny situation in February. First we perform in Dusseldorf with the capacity of 7500 viewers (How cool is that!!!!). A few days later we are booked in Paris with 120 people maximum ;) The biggest down side with the small stages is that we will probably hit each other with our guitars and basses because we are used to space on stage. Sorry Riku & Raul… Any scar on these faces will only make us look better ;)

What has been amazing so far is the amount of support from the fan clubs and folks also from the countries we barely ever visited and it’s so cool that we have seen so many Polish Fans at the shows in Germany or the Slovakian gang at the shows in Vienna. Just to mention a few. Now it’s definitely the time for us to get to where you are.

No matter what happens and no matter if our songs would take us to more countries in the future, we will always remember where it all started and we will always value that. I am trying to say that even if there would be new areas we would start visiting more often, we will never forget the people who have made us what we are today. You helped us climb a bit closer to our dream. Without you I’d still be playing my guitar on my home sofa.

So… Maybe this is the moment where we could use your help. Now it’s also up to you if there will be more shows in your home city in the future. I heard about some fan clubs & people approaching the local record labels & promoters already to make it happen together. That demands us to give you the best we ever can. No matter if there’s 4 people in the crowd. (Would actually be cool to have more people in the crowd than on stage ;)

We are super excited about the journey ahead and I can’t wait to start the caravan. See you very soon. Let’s rock the hell out of it!

Samu

PS. Thank you Jura Switzerland for this great coffee machine & great coffee! Was a perfect birthday present last spring! I am addicted…;)

Blog from 11. October 2011

Samu

Pizza, Love and Understanding

(Suomeksi alla)

It’s not after every show that we have a party at the back stage but last Saturday at Circus in Helsinki the after show party was better & worse than ever. Half of the city was there and to be honest I didn’t know half of the people. Fortunately nobody got hurt (apart from one black eye) even though some guys had little fights and I hope they were able to clean the mess.

So… The festival season is over and we ended it with style in Berlin a week ago in front of an estimated 750.000 viewers. That was just fantastic. I heard from our sound guys that they didn’t allow bands to play that loud but I didn’t see any low-volume-frustration in the crowd. It was one of my short life’s coolest moments when they / you all sang our choruses with us. It’s not every October night when the weather is that great in Berlin. It was + 25 in the evening as we got on stage. The air was like magic. Like from a fairytale gone really good!

So last week was mostly about rehearsing the club / arena show set we’re gonna perform this year. And it seemed to work - my God! I have sometimes complained about the Finnish audience being a bit passive and quiet, but that was all totally gone in Club Circus. The night was one of the best nights with our band ever – definitely the number 1 show in Finland!

Before the show we were all nervous like little boys before the first date, and after sharing the night with the great crowd, we felt like hugging everyone. And we actually did. There was this couple at the back stage and I thought the girl was one of my sister’s friends, so I hugged her with all the passion just 3 minutes after the show. I had never met her before. I hope said sorry...
I don’t know whose idea it was to just let EVERYONE in at the backstage, but the party was worth it. I remember ordering a few hundred bottles of beer, many bottles of stronger stuff and all the food in the world for our guests. I don’t wanna see the invoice for that night – sorry guys ;)

I just came from the gym and I am over my hang over now. Yesterday’s theme was “Pizza, love and understanding” as they say in the Finnish Pizza commercial.

On Saturday we will fly to Moscow for our first Russian show in a long time. I really don’t know what to expect but the crowd has been superb there every time so we should be fine. The show is on Sunday so we’ll finally have some time to check out the huge city with the guys.
After Moscow we will head to Sweden, and then south to more shows, but that will be another blog…;)

I am lying on the bed with a glass of wine. I am gonna fall asleep watching Crash – the movie. I’ve seen it once but it’s definitely good enough for a second run.

Sleep well – where ever you are & a big hug for everyone for last Saturday night

Samu

PS: Check out Anna´s pictures from Helsinki show at facebook.com/sunriseavenue. A talented little girl ;)

***********************************

MOI!!!!

Olipahan aikamoinen keikka lauantaina Circuksessa!!! Mä olen joskus myöntänyt että meno ulkomailla on usein kovempaa – ja näin on ollutkin, mutta lauantainen meininki oli jotain niin huikeata ettei meinattu poikien kanssa uskoa todeksi. Kiitos

Viime viikko oli aika erikoinen. Me oltiin kaikki jotenkin hermostuneen oloisia ja tuli jopa tiuskittua toisilleen treeneissä kun harjoiteltiin lauantaina alkaneen rundin uusia juttuja ja sovituksia. Festarikesän lopetus Berliinissä 750.000 ihmiselle (ja ne jatkobileet; ) ehkä painoi vähän, mutta jotenkin Helsingin keikka tuntui pyörivän kaikkien mielessä enemmän kuin keikat normaalisti ja päiviä ennen h-hetkeä.

No treeneistä selvittiin hienosti ja keikkapäivänä vedettiin ihan kunnon neljän tunnin treenit päivällä. Treeneissä on vaikea saada keikkafiilistä päälle kun ei ole yleisöä ja siksi kaikki meistä soitti vähän lepsusti. Siitäkin jäi vähän hassu fiilis että mitenköhän homma illalla kulkee. Ja kaiken lisäksi meille tuli lauantaille kaikki uudet langattomat mikrofonit ja lähettimet ja pakko myöntää että kun on laulanut ja pitänyt kädessään tietynlaista ja tietynpainoista mikkiä kolme vuotta, tuntui uusi parempi mutta myös painavampi kapula oudolta. Ärsytti.

Sound chekin jälkeen me mentiin Samin kanssa meille relaamaan ja katsomaan UrhoTV:ltä TPS-HIFK matsia että saataisiin ajatukset pois keikasta. Matsikaan ei mennyt ihan putkeen.

Enne keikkaa annettiin muutama haastattelu ulkomaisille toimittajille ja tavattiin MetroFM:n kisavoittajat ja päästiin sovitusti 60 minuuttia ennen keikkaa valmistautumaan ja suorittamaan kukin omia rutiinejamme. Se on hassua miten sitä maasta tai kaupungista riippumatta ottaa aina tunti ennen keikkaa kahvin, vetää röökin ja sitten alkaa tankkaamaan vettä ja punnertamaan ja verryttelemään. Mä laitan yleensä viimeisenä kuulokkeet päähän ja pienen ihoteipin selkään että piuhat pysyy ojennuksessa. 10 minuuttia ennen sovittua aloitusaikaa kaikki on yleensä about valmiina. Juuri ennen keikkaa me laitetaan kaikki nyrkit yhteen (aina kaksi miestä kerrallaan) ja katsotaan tiukasti toisiamme silmiin. Siinä ikään kuin sovitaan että mennään antamaan parastamme ja pitämään hauskaa. Me ei koskaan mennä lavalle ilman tuota viimeistä ryhmähetkeä. Se on oikeasti aika hieno hetki. Kaikkia vähän jännittää ja perhoset pyörii mahassa.
On todella outoa soittaa ilman sen suurempia paineita yli puolelle miljoonalle ihmiselle, mutta kun reilun tuhannen ihmisen salissa on kaikkien perheet, serkut ja koulukaverit, kaikilla tutisee puntti. Luulisi että ne ihmiset meidät viimeisenä tuomitsisivat.

En muista montaa niin ihanaa 90-minuuttista kuin mitä lauantaina lavalla koin. Ja fiilis oli koko porukalla sama. Ihan mieletön tunnelma ja herran jestas että te lauloitte kovaa. Pakko buukata keväälle vaikka väkisin lisää keikkoja Suomeen. Oli jo vähän puhetta suomalaisen keikka-agentin kanssa. Ja koko orkesteri including uusi kitarateknikko Antti selviytyi operaatiosta todella hienosti. Mä mokasin Sweet Symphonyssä yhden lauletun rivin verran kun tunteet valtasi mielen. Se oli kuitenkin biisin ensiesitys ja olin odottanut sitä kovasti. Ihminen minäkin vain olen ;)

Circuksen ja etenkin niiden jatkobileiden jälkeen sunnuntain teema oli ”Pizza, Love & Understanding…” Nyt ollaan taas hengissä ja tulin just salilta ;)

Seuraavaksi on vuorossa Moskova. Ollaan oltu siellä kaksi kertaa aikaisemmin ja molemmilla kerroilla siellä on ollut tosi hyvä meininki. Vaikea sanoa tuleeko sinne kuinka paljon porukkaa meitä katsomaan, mutta se on sen ajan murhe. Mua aina vähän jännittää onko sali ihan tyhjä kun aloitetaan. Ja välillähän se onkin vain puolillaan jossain uusissa maissa mutta ei se maailmaa kaada. Me mennään Moskovaan jo päivää ennen keikkaa, joten viimein saadaan tutustua suureen kaupunkiin edes vähän. Moskovan jälkeen suuntaamme Ruotsin kautta Keski-Eurooppaan mutta siitä myöhemmin lisää.

Nyt mä katson uudestaan Crash-elokuvan. Se on sairaan hyvä ja kestää useammankin katselukerran. Kohta vaivun uneksimaan tulevista keikoista ja HIFK:n voittoputkesta ja uusista kitaroista.

Kiitos kaikille vielä ihanasta illasta ja toivotaan että niitä tulee tännekin lisää.
Kauniita unia kaikille,

Samu

PS: Tsekkaa Annan ottamat kuvat Helsingin keikalta facebook.com/sunriseavenue. Aika pätevä plikka ;)

Blog from 22. October 2011

Samu

?????????????& Heja Sverige

Stockholm, Göta Kellare October 20th

Here we are, finally! It’s the third show of the tour but now we finally start the “tour bus part” where we travel and live together with the band & crew. Imagine how lucky the guys are. They get to hear all my great jokes & life wisdoms every day…!!!

The first two shows of the tour were in Helsinki 10 days ago and in Moscow last Sunday. After a great evening in Helsinki we didn’t know what to expect in Moscow – especially since it was almost two years again since the last visit. Two years ago the locals told us they had problems promoting the show and therefore the club was not that packed. Was still fun though.

This time everyone had done a great job. First of all the venue (Moscow Arena) was one of the coolest venues ever and the crowd was just super great. Seemed like the promoting went better this time. It was very cool meeting the Russian fans & friends after the show. Mr Russian promoter told me he would like to have us back there soon – maybe already in the spring – so we keep our fingers crossed ;)

We also heard that the Russian gymnastic Olympic winner sometimes practices with our music, so of course we had to invite here to the show (I totally lost her name…). It’s good to finally know why the Russians are so good with sports. It’s the music they listen to ;)

So, today we are in Sweden, Stockholm and pretty ready for the show. We have a lot of friends and family coming over again, but not as much as there was in Helsinki the other week. So I bet we won’t be that nervous this time.

I wonder what songs we should put on the list today… Maybe not the “Den Glider In” ice hockey theme song. Probably they are still pissed at us Finns stealing their Ice Hockey gold last spring…;)

Flight SK2625 Stockholm – Dusseldorf, October 21st

Here we go again! We sat at the airport for probably 4 hours but in a way it was nice to have the time for a long lunch and some Internet surfing.

Of course Osmo had to sing “Den Glider in” last night in Stockholm and Riku joined Osmo with many Swedish ever greens at “destiny.” I gotta say it felt a bit strange performing to such a small crowd, but honestly I had very much fun! Even though I hit my head pretty hard when I got back on stage. And of course everyone saw it. I’m ok. It’s not the first hit on this full-bone-head of mine.

Since the pickup today was after 12 PM today, we had to have a few beers downtown with the guys and some local friends. If you ever go to Sweden, you gotta try their “Pytt i Panna.” That saved my day after the beers and I am feeling great!

Today we only make some plans for tomorrow and the rest of the tour. The stages are getting bigger now and I guess out of the 20 shows, there are tickets left to only a few of them. And they already upgraded the venues from the originals. This night we will all sleep in our own hotel rooms but from tomorrow on the bus will be our home on the show days and I have kind of missed that. The great tour bus jokes…;) Sami has this thing with the Eastern Finnish dialect saying “Wittu minnuu Wituuttaa ja väsyyttää kokoo ajaa…” and I guess that is one of the themes for the trip ;)

Anyway… Thank you all so much for the great evenings in Moscow & Stockholm and hope to see you soon again.
Samu

PS: R.I.P. HIFK guitar. Hope you will find a good new home soon. Thank you Carparelli & Amplisonic for the new customized baby ;)

Blog from 22. October 2011

Press Announcement – Osmo Ikonen

Osmo betting team

As we all know, our dear keyboard player Osmo Ikonen usually loses half of his things on the road. This time we wanted to reward him if he puts himself together if we don’t have to stop on the highways looking for his wallet or headphones.

We made a bet. If Mr. Ikonen doesn’t lose anything until November 13th, Samu Haber and tour manager Basty will pay him 100 € both (Total 200€). If Osmo does lose something on the way, Osmo pays both 10 € (20 € Total).

The results will be announced on November the 14th.

Blog from 23. October 2011

Samu

We need s shrink!!

What a show in Rheine yesterday!!! We were pretty tired after the wakeup 7:15 AM on the show day and we also had a lot to do, since it was the first show with that technical production and I gotta say, there was some bad vibes in the air too during the day. That’s totally normal…

After stepping on the stage in the evening – it all got great ;) I remembered again how great it is to have a stage in two levels and a little cat walk kind of a thing in the front.

We also received awards yesterday for “Sold Out Tour 2011” in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. That has never happened to us before. More than 40.000 viewers in 3 weeks & 18 shows. There are still a few tickets left for some of the cities, but they promised us they will all be gone by the show day. So much for my empty room phobia. Thank you so much for being there for us again!!!

After a super great show in Rheine yesterday it was the first night in the bus this fall. I don’t remember falling asleep that fast ever before and I passed out at 2 AM and woke up at 1 PM. Nice.

Riku told me he had this strange dream last night and I thought I should get your help interpreting the little movie made by his mind.

Riku’s dream:

“We had a show in Helsinki again at club Circus. Everything was fine before the show but then Mr. Karri Soilamo (Who has been out crew leader for years) had come into the club with his friends. They had been drinking this strange alcohol and finally the got Samu drinking with them at their nasty drinking session. Samu kept on drinking and as the show started, Samu could not sing and actually he couldn’t stand. He was so wasted.

The crew took Samu backstage and the next thing Riku saw on TV (On stage!!! Does he have a TV there…?) was the Arabic TV station reporting from Libya that Samu is dying after the huge drinking and obviously a battle too. The thing was being reported all over the world, of course. Samu was all covered with blood and there were paramedics trying to rescue him, but it was obviously too late.

Riku got very angry at Karri and his drinking gang and he decided to go kick their asses for making Samu in such bad condition. Riku was on his to the back stage to give these idiots a lesson when he woke up...”

Then he woke up in our bus and saw me sleeping next to him on the other side of the bus.

If there’s anyone out there with some knowledge of dreams, please send instructions what to do ;)

Thank you all for a great night in Reine last night and see you today and tomorrow in Hamburg at the Reeperbahn legendary Grosse Freiheit!!

I am off to sound check. Hopefully Karri and his gang don’t show up today…

Samu

Blog from 25. October 2011

Samu

Hamburg & Hamburg

I am sitting at the backstage in Hannover after the sound check. I am listening to the Tappara –HIFK ice hockey game though Metro FM Internet portal and after what’s been going on with our beloved team the last weeks, it’s interesting how their game will develop.

We played two nights in a row at the legendary Grosse Freiheit 36 at Hamburg Reeperbahn. The club is right next to the striptease bars and “love” houses and I must admit it’s pretty cool having a cigarette before the show together with the ladies in fish nets and then we mentally “high five” and both go to work ;)

The double show in Hamburg was the first time in the band’s history when we have two nights sold out in a row in one city. When we saw the presale numbers in June, we first thought of moving the show to a bigger sports arena or something, but we really needed the cool rock club for this trip. Was a good decision! And these two nights went definitely both to my top 10 shows of all times. I was just listening the 2nd Hamburg show and it sound so amazing ;)

We are recording the whole tour again and just like with the acoustic tour, we will again choose the best sounding versions and we will make a live album of this tour to be released sometime next year.

Tappara-HIFK 1-0 after 6 minutes. God please help….
I am not feeling super great today. My nose is stuck and throat feels a bit strange but I bet I’ll be ok in the evening as the light go off. Keep your fingers crossed…
Thank you everyone for super amazing shows in Hamburg and see you very very soon!

Hugs,

Samu

Press Announcement – Osmo Ikonen (Keyboards)

Blog from 26. October 2011

Samu

The original bet placed on October 22nd was:

“If Mr. Ikonen doesn’t lose anything until November 13th, Samu Haber and tour manager Basty will pay him 100 € both (Total 200€). If Osmo does lose something on the way, Osmo pays both 10 € (20 € Total).”

We are very happy to announce that Mr. Ikonen lost this bet by forgetting his stage shirt in Hamburg after the second Hamburg show.

Mr. Ikonen pays Tour manager - Basty & Mr. Haber 10 € each.
After a little battle both parties decided to double the amount, so now the modified bet is ongoing with 40 vs 400 Euro Ikonen vs Haber & Basty

The period ends on November 14th 2011.

Sunrise Avenue gambling department want to congratulate both winners and spank Mr. Ikonen.

Hot rum & honey in Berlin

Blog from 26. October 2011

Samu

I just woke up and had dinner with the band guys at this great Indian restaurant at Carmerstrasse, butter chicken as usual – very good again! I have slept most of the day because I felt a bit sick already last night during the show and sleeping is the best way of getting rid of the unwanted viruses in you system. Ok, I also ordered 4 shots of rum and honey from the hotel bar and I am mixing them with hot water. It’s cool that they have a water boiler in every room at this American-French hotel.

It’s pretty scary how every night after the show we have valued the current evening’s show as the best so far on tour. I mean mostly thinking about our playing etc., but also the crowd noise and stuff. And it happened last night again in Hannover. I love the Capitol Club. The audience is on two floors and I guess everyone can see the stage pretty well. The crowd sounded so loud last night.

Sometimes the crowd sounds louder because of the structure of the room or the building materials and sometimes they are just louder ;)

The scary thing is that at some point on every tour, there is at least one show where we are not that happy with our own performance. Most of these tiny mistakes don’t probably even show to the crowd but it always effects on the other band members when some one plays totally wrong. Hope that day is not tomorrow.

Tomorrow we also film the whole show at Columbia Halle in Berlin and there are several service providers who will broadcast the show on the web too. I will put a link at the end of this blog. Being full of slime was not on my wish list for tomorrow night, but what can you do. We have a good survival pack for moments like this at the backstage. I hope the bus flu goes away soon and we get to enjoy the rest of the trip healthy.

Thank you all for the great night in Hannover. I listened to the show on tape today and it sounded amazing!!!

Keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow and lest rock the arena like hell again!!

Hugs,

Samu

PS. Hot rum and Honey (and lemon) is a great way of getting rid of flu. Trust me – I’ve been there many times ;)

http://www.muzu.tv/gb/sunriseavenue/

Berlin & Dresden

Blog from 29. October 2011

Samu

How the hell is it so warm here in Germany??? Me like ;) I was just sitting outside the arena and writing songs with Osmo.

We woke up today in Mannheim and the sky is blue and the sun in shining. I am still feeling a bit weak, although very much better already.

It’s so strange that on every tour, there is one show when we feel totally depressed after the show. Not because of the crowd or anything you people can effect on, it’s only because of our own performance. And probably it has something to do with the tour start nervousness being away after the first few shows. This time it happened in Berlin. I must admit I was very ill and singing was super hard work all through the show. Sami also had a little fever and you can just imagine how it feels sitting in the noise and hitting all the cymbals when your head hurts.

After the Berlin show we were all just sitting down at the backstage floor and the mood wasn’t that great. We even had to skip a few songs from the set list because the voice just didn’t come out from my throat. That always feels very annoying.

There were a lot of people from the music business watching the show and also family and we were a bit amazed when they said the show was great… We thought they maybe wanna cheer us up. We decided after the Berlin show that we’ll probably not gonna use the show as a DVD release in the future. That was trhe feeling then.

I heard the more than 50.000 people watched it online. We were also a bit surprised how good the feed back was on Facebook etc. Thank you all for your kind words!! <3

We did a lot better in Dresden last night. I was actually quite satisfied with us all. And the crowd was amazing, just like in Berlin. The arena was a very cool old butcher house where the animals used to end their days in the past for dinner purposes. There were also a few dogs and a sweet black cat, so I had some help for my animal sickness. Love them! I gave the cat so much butter and sweets that she must be so fat today. But we became good friends ;)

After the Dresden show Riku found some clips of the Berlin show web stream. We were all super amazed. Actually it looked and sounded super great and we must think about the DVD option again. It was also the first time I saw Timo’s (our new lightning designer) work live. W-O-W! His lightning work is SO much better than his jokes in the bus!!!!

So… everyone’s feeling way better today and we are ready to rock Mannheim 102%. This is the city where we played our second biggest festival ever this summer. I heard there were more than 300.000 viewers at the Arena of POP even though it rained that day. In Berlin in October there were a bit more… I was kind of hoping we’d play at the cool Capitol Club, it’s one of the coolest in Europe with the opera-feeling. But what we have today is actually even cooler. And Bigger ;)

Thank you all so much for the great two shows and the super support again and see you all soon.

Peppermint tea & Love & Understanding to everyone,

Samu

Sunrise Avenue Bowling tournament © 2011

Blog from 30. October 2011

SABT Staff

2011 Sunrise Avenue Bowling Tournament ©

HOLLYWOOD BOWLING ARENA, Stuttgart, Germany

October 30th 2011.

The German Mercedes-Benzes and Porsche town Stuttgart had the pleasure this year to host the annual and legendary Sunrise Avenue Bowling Tournament © 2011. The Hollywood Bowling Arena was filled with viewers and fans as the competitors arrived at the arena a few minutes before the event. The victory was taken by the band’s lead singer Samu Haber (178 points), who took the gold medal on the 4th round right before the band’s lead guitarist Riku Rajamaa (170) and the new tour guitar technician Antti Toiviainen (167).

Haber took his first victory of all times “from the bushes” since his first two rounds went totally bad and nobody saw him as a winner candidate. The third round was already better and the fourth was just a glorious victory march towards the desired shiny SABT award ©.

“I had a pretty bad start and I thought this was not my day at all. The first two rounds went below my skills and I had problems even getting more than the minimum hundred points required to get to the band sauna after the competition”, says Haber after a champagne glass. “I knew that Riku would be my worst enemy on any sports because he just seems to get the puck in any net better than anyone in the gang, but today I just got everything right in the end. Even on the fourth round I had problems with my front leg position but luckily I got it fixed on critical moments with my staff”

The singer was clearly happy for his victory and sent warm thanks to all his bowling fans and also a huge hug to his family at home for supporting him during the hard bowling training period before the tournament.

“This hasn’t been easy – not for me and not for the people supporting me all the way. There were some moments when most of us must have felt like it’s not worth the effort, but as we can all enjoy the results now, I bet nobody regrets the work we all did together. I would never be here without you all!”

Most of the betting agencies were sure that Riku Rajamaa would make the highest score. Mr. Rajamaa was actually leading the competition until the end of the last round and losing the shiniest medal right in the end wasn’t pleasant at all.

“I gave my everything today and that wasn’t enough. Shit tastes in my mouth now but I’ll swallow it anyway – what else can I do? First I thought that bowling was fun but now I realized it sucks! I think I am gonna change bowling to something else and the only balls I will keep close to me are in my pants”, Rajamaa cursed with the silver medal on him.

Rajamaa is still the leading competitor in the Sunrise Avenue All Time Sports Hero © lifelong tournament and his skills will most definitely show again soon as the more important games start.

The Bronze medalist Antti Toiviainen was a huge question mark to everyone since it was his first time at Sunrise Avenue Bowling Tournament ©.

“Great evening! I got myself in the game pretty well and after the nervousness in the first round, I got my spin and backhand working all right. The track was a bit more slippery than the ones we have in Southern Karelia, but today my balls seemed to obey my orders as they should.“
The freshman also wanted to send some greetings in Finnish back home:

“Minnuu ei vituuuta nyt yhtään!”

The Sunrise Avenue Elite Superman Sports Tournament © continues later this year with Go Cart racing and pool tournament.

Statistics and Results

Competitors:

Timo “Pornokeisari” Saarinen
Basty “Saku” Duellmann
Osmo “Oki” Ikonen
Riku “Rixa” Rajamaa
Samu “Hapa” Haber
Antti “OnlyGibson” Toiviainen
Mikko “Gorilla” Salonen
Mikko-Pekka “Ämpee” Laine.
Injured or away:
Sami “Osama” Osala (was sick in bed)
Raul “Ile” Ruutu (Didn’t join because he had been to the Mercedes-Benz museum earlier that day. A tough one…)

End results:

1. Samu “Hapa” Haber 178
2. Riku “Rixa” Rajamaa 170
3. Antti “OnlyGibson” Toivoainen 167

Sunrise Avenue Bowling Tournament © staff want to congratulate the winners!

Adler Mannheim

Blog from 30. October 2011

Samu

I am wearing only my woolen socks made by Granma & my loyal Superdry college shorts and I am enjoying my afternoon in a nice French-American hotel in Stuttgart. The throat feels better and better every day and I would say tomorrow I am fully back again after the flu-slimy period.

Last night we performed in Mannheim at this very nice and modern rock club and I am totally happy again. All the band members are feeling pretty much OK again, well Osmo said he’s feeling a little fever kind of thing in him, but I guess that can go away with the day off we are all enjoying today. It’s only Sauna, bed and of course a traditional bowling session in the evening crew against band. The crew guys have no chance!

Was a super great show and a super crowd too last night. Again – one of the loudest. Already before the tour I thought it would do good for the show if we change the set list a little bit every night. We stay more focused if the songs are no the same. Last night we felt like trying songs we haven’t played in a long time. Birds and Bees was such an energy booster and the only downside was that the mood got so energetic with that song that it was hard to figure out something suitable to say about “Welcome To My Life” right after all the tigers on stage. “Kiss Goodbye” also felt nice even though the words didn’t come to my mind that clear ;)

We got the HD material from the Berlin show last night after the show and damn it looked good! It’s quite cool how you don’t actually see that we are sick & tired. It looked super great and we might use the footage somehow after all… The TV guys really knew what they were doing. It was also cool to see our lightning designer Timo’s handwork for the first time. I love him <3 In the crew guy way.

Timo is also a part time ninja and he doesn’t like it too much when Sami hugs him in the night. And we have some secret German sausage deals with him – but let’s keep all that between Timo and me.

So… Today we go bowling and I need to freshen up and get ready for the battle. The room service just brought me a fresh café latte and I guess it’s a good moment to end writing and to read some ice hockey news from Finland.
Thank you all for the great night in Mannheim and see you all very soon. It’s a beautiful day outside at least here in Stuttgart. So go out and enjoy it- there are not many left…

Hugs,

Samu

PS. We almost saw Agnus Young in the bus last night at 4:00 AM as Antti, my guitar hero technician got loose with AC/DC. I am still amazed!

PPS. It’s so strange how the Germans don’t have a problem with anything. In many countries when you say “Thank You” to the room service guy or the waiter at a restaurant, they say “You’re welcome.” Here they say “No Problem.” Why should there be a problem anyway… Germans… They’re sweet! Check it out next time you are being served by them…;) NO Problem!

Dortmund backstage

Blog from 04. November 2011

Samu

Here we are at backstage again, today in Dortmund and ready for the next four shows. On the last run we did Filderstadt, Cologne and Saarbrucken and the resting day was more than welcome. I am drinking Peppermint tea – makes the throat feel awesome. Sami’s idea…

It’s the first time we are this sick with the band and crew on tour. As soon as someone gets a cold or something, everyone gets it in the bus. Then it’s really hard to get well since there can be four show days in a row and jumping and sweating on stage is not actually what a doctor would recommend when being sick. It just takes longer to recover.

Filderstadt felt pretty ok even though the energy levels were not where they’re supposed to be when you’re on stage. Cologne was definitely the hardest one on this tour so far. Even though we received gold awards for the album “Out Of Style” and platinum for Hollywood Hills, we just couldn’t rock it fully. The crowd felt pretty quiet as well, but maybe it was just the room’s acoustics. And of course mostly our mood. I must say I am still very proud of Sami and how he has been fighting through the shows even with fever.

Saarbrucken was already better in many ways and I hope that we will not get on the Cologne level again on this tour. We have now four shows in a row (Dortmund, Giessen, Munich, Zurich) and it will be a circus job resting as much as possible and saving all the energy for the stage. I have faith in us ;)

However, this has been far the nicest trip with Sunrise Avenue ever and I am very sure the second half will be even better especially after we get rid of the flu. Thank you all so much for everything so far and tonight we rock again!!!

Hugs,

Samu

PS: Last night we went go-cart racing to get the thoughts a bit away from the tour. Our special sports reporter will make a full review on the race and results later ;)

PPS. One good thing with this flu this is that we are saving so much money alcohol because there are no parties. I don’t know where we are gonna leave all the full bottles after the tour…;)

Sunrise Avenue Go-Cart Race © 2011

05.11.2011 Sunrise Avenue Sports News

2011 Sunrise Avenue Go-Cart Race ©

Highway Kart Racing, Dortmund, Germany

November 3rd 2011.

The German city of Dortmund hosted this year’s traditional and legendary Sunrise Avenue Go-Cart race. After a two-year break and drivers’ salary negotiations between the driver association and Race organization the race got a huge attention on the press and the arena was filled with racing fans from all over the world. Team Audio Gorillas took a double victory as Mikko Salonen took his first-ever gold medal right before his teammate Tuomas Hollmerus. Gibson Ultimate Fighting Team’s Samu Haber took the third place after a hard and exciting race.

The race was full of drama as Gibson Ultimate Fighting Team’s driver’s Riku Rajamaa’s car broke down after only four laps. Also the winning team protested against each other after the race. Hollmerus claimed that Salonen had crashed him on purpose, but the jury saw no reason for any penalty after the race.

Salonen was not surprised for his victory after the race. “I had a good summer preparing myself for the new season and I kind of felt fast today. When I woke up in the morning before the race, I knew this would be my day. Already at the qualifying I felt much faster than the rest and everything just went as planned. It’s very sad that Hollmerus can’t accept the fact that again today I was faster. If his mental abilities are that low, he will have to get used to looking at my tail lights many times this season. At Audio Gorillas there are two drivers and only one of them was signed as the main driver. And everyone – also Tuomas - knows who I am talking about.”

“After my career’s first victory, I had a big party with my own staff in a park nearby with all the gorillas and we celebrated until the morning. It’s a shame Tuomas didn’t join us”, Salonen shivers with an obvious hangover after the night’s events.

Hollmerus was of course happy for his eight points and also hopeful for the team’s well-started season. “Of course I am quite happy. I had a god race and I was able to keep Haber behind me. He was my biggest threat before the race and beating him felt great. Haber was right behind me most of the race especially after the second safety car and I had to squeeze all I had in my ass to keep him where he belongs. It’s not a nice feeling having him breathing on your neck – you never know what he is up to.”

The whole audience stopped breathing as the leading team crashed onto each other on the second last round. The situation didn’t make Hollmerus happy. “I must repeat my words about Mikko’s behavior on the track. There are certain rules on how much contact you can make with other drivers and Salonen went over the edge. But I must forget this event now and focus on the next one. I have many possibilities this season showing the world who is the fastest driver in the world. With Mr. Salonen’s attitude, I bet his downhill will start sooner or later”, Hollmerus stated.

The betting agencies’ favorite, Gibson Ultimate Fighting Team’s first race didn’t go as planned. Riku Rajamaa’s car broke down and Mr. Haber was left behind by the Audio Gorillas. It was the first time ever in Sunrise Go-Cart Racing © history when a Gibson car broke during the race. Rajamaa was clearly disappointed.

“I am so angry at the brainless idiot in our team who fixed my car for the race. Obviously you must do everything yourself in this world to make things work and you can’t rust no one– even in your own team. I was just on my fastest lap and I was right behind Haber and MP (Volvo Weller) on the 5th place and ready to strike. I felt like throwing my helmet on the idiot security staff as they asked if I’m ok. Of course I was not ok. I was emotionally hurt, lonely and frustrated.”

Rajamaa didn’t see much light at the end of the tunnel even though it was the first race of the season. “I don’t know… I am so pissed right now that I guess it’s better if I skip the whole season. And to my family at home; I am not gonna come home for a while. I need some time to think about life now. I have this feeling inside me that I can only describe in Finnish: Vit**taa ku Apassia! Merry Christmas everyone!”

Haber was hopeful about the team’s future even though Rajamaa nearly punched the reporters on the face. “Ok race. The Gorillas’ speed was a tiny surprise to me but I know we can also do better. Qualifying didn’t go as planned and I started as fourth. I knew MP would make a mistake in front of me at some point and I am happy I was able to use my opportunity as he got nervous on the third round. Pity that Riku’s car didn’t work today but there will be a new chance soon. I’m happy for the points and it was a good start for me. Riku will be back, I’m sure.”

Stats:

Individual:

1. Mikko Salonen, Audio Gorillas (10p)
2. Tuomas Hollmerus, Audio Gorillas (8)
3. Samu Haber, Gibson Ultimate Fighting Team (7)
4. Osmo Ikonen, Beat & Box Racing (6)
5. Ilkka “Raul” Ruutu, Volvo-Weller (5)
6. Mikko-Pekka Laine, Volvo-Weller (4)
7. Timo Saarinen, Kovat Miehet (3)
8. Antti Toiviainen, Kovat Miehet (2)
9. Sami Osala, Beat & Box Racing (1)

Disqualified: Riku Rajamaa, Gibson Ultimate Fighting team.

Teams start 2011:

1. Audio Gorillas (18)
2. Volvo-Weller (9)
3. Gibson Ultimate Fighting Team (7)
3. Beat & Box Racing (7)
5. Kovat Miehet (5)

Dortmund & Giessen

Blog from 06. November 2011

Samu

Yes!!!!!!!! It feels great again! These two shows were probably the best shows so far on this trip. Everyone’s feeling better and better and we seem to be able to beat the bus disease. Both venues were so huge that I was actually amazed in the afternoon as we walked in – can these really be sold out? 7000 viewers in two nights.

I felt really tired today before the show and I wasn’t too hopeful with my throat. The fever and weak feeling is gone but the 100-minute jumping and singing every night still keep my throat a bit sore. I took all the medicines and a little Jägermeister before the show and it worked.
Tomorrow I think I will also try to exercise a bit in the afternoon to get my body warm for the show. There are some meetings in Munich after the lunch so maybe it would be a good idea to get fresh before them too.

It was so cool tonight during the show when I realized that we are really recording the nights in every city. The crowd sounded so cool. We planned that we listen to the shows through right after the tour and then we give the selected shows and songs to our trusted mixing engineer Jesse to fix it ready for you. It would be cool to release the Live CD early next year. We have the 10th anniversary next year and the moments from these live shows would be a great way of celebrating it. There will be other cool anniversary things going on around the shows next spring but I’ll get back to that later.

I heard that there were some fights outside the venue in Giessen between some audience members. I know there is this system how people get their position in the line before the doors are opened and sometimes it might be hard to be equal to everyone, but please be nice to each other. Last summer someone broke her tooth before our show. We don’t want that. And sorry for the girl who got hurt last night. Our thoughts are with you.

Remember that it’s always the LOCAL SECURITY who is responsible for the safety of the audience. If there is something going on, please contact them. I heard a rumor about someone getting the “It’s not our problem” answer from the local security guys and if this is true, it’s very bad. Our tour manager, crew and staff are only here to build the show facilities for the band & for you and they have no time and no chance to check that nobody gets hurt outside the doors. The local staff from each town taking care of your safety is part of our tour deal. I hope from now on nobody gets hurt.

Since I still sound like Chris Rea with my throat, I will jump right into the bus and get some warm soup and dive into my bed.

Thank you all for the great evenings again! You made me and us very very very happy and now I feel the way I should be feeling on tour with the best guys & best fans on the planet.

Hugs from the backstage at Giessen and see you tomorrow in Munich,

Samu

PS: It’s no joke that Jägermeister helps when you need to sing sick. I have had this small plastic bottle on stage just to have it if the going gets tough with my throat.

Yesterday before welcome to my life I thought I grabbed a water bottle in the dark and took a HUGE sip – a mouthful – and realized afterwards that it was my “medicine…” Sorry if a spitted it on someone in panic ;)

Blog from 11. November 2011

Samu

Munich & Zurich & Candy Store

I just got back from the doctor with Osmo. Osmo has an ear infection and it hasn’t gotten better, so he decided to join me to the clinic that our dear local promoter booked for us. I wanted to get some antibiotics because our lightning designer/operator Timo has Angina and I really don’t wanna get it. Osmo saw a doctor in Zurich and obviously he prescribed wrong stuff to him. The clinic today was like from a German police TV series from the early 80’s, like “Derrik” or “Der Alte” and all the equipment reminded me of the old Bond movies. But the doc was great! So now we have all kinds of stuff to keep our systems running for the last four shows and all will be fine.

They say that people in Munich don’t clap their hands and sing with you as much as in some other smaller towns because they’re too cool. We had booked this very cool but small club called “Backstage” (I guess the smallest on this trip) for the show and it was totally sold out. I was totally sure that after Dortmund and Giessen it would be impossible to top the mood in the room. I was wrong.

They were so loud. And it was so hot! Again the floor was covered with water that comes from the air as the people get in to the cold room and heat it up. Even some technical equipment broke down with the heat and humidity but our cool crew did a great job again fixing it all through the show. Our monitor engineer Tuomas even had to operate the belt bag on my ass a few times. Hope he’s recovered ;)

I don’t like having four shows in a row because I’d like to get some rest in between and having the only Swiss show in this tour right after the three shows in Germany, I was a little worried with my throat. And also the band & crew because the sickness has been in the bus from the very start.

We had been to the Maag Halle in Zurich before. Last time we played the smaller side (Maybe 1.500 capacity) but now we had sold out the 3.200 arena. It’s always so great to come to Switzerland. I mean all Europe is great but every time you arrive in the land of Chocolate, Cheese and Great Jura-coffee, you feel that everything is a bit better here…

The crowd was superb!!! Probably the loudest so far on this trip, so we are really being treated too good at the moment. The greatest thing they did was when I went on stage alone to play “Sweet Symphony” from the new album; they had a little surprise for us. I am sitting there alone only with my acoustic guitar and as I started the song, they all lifted these huge paper hearts up. And kept them up through the whole song. They had personalized the hearts so every one of them was different. And it wasn’t just the first rows; there were at least a thousand of them. Someone really had been working late hours making them. After the song, I had to borrow this girl’s camera from the first row to take a picture for my retirement days. Thank you <3

I had real problems holding my tears and since also the song is about deeper things in life, loneliness, love, god, challenges, it was pretty emotional. And sometimes if there are too many thoughts in your head during a song, you can forget the chords and lyrics. I don’t remember anything from that song, but the recording sounded great. Magical four minutes.

So after Zurich we had a day off yesterday and to maximize it, we had a late and loud bus party with the guys. I totally passed out at seven in the morning. We had deep discussions mostly with Antti, my guitar technician, about instruments and I promised him after 17 rum-cokes that I’d buy a Gibson ES 355 the next day if we just can get to the Thomann Musik Store.

The store is about 80 kilometers from Wurzburg in Burgebrach (very small village) and they say it’s the biggest music store in the EU. We have ordered tons of stuff from them the last years from the webshop (www.thomann.de). Raul tried to rent a car but since there were no vehicles available, we went with a taxi. The store is just awesome. They have everything you can ever imagine and after the day also MP, Osmo and Antti bought new Gibson guitars for themselves. Antti got a black Gibson ES-355 custom with Bigsby Tremolo, MP got a Gibson SG Custom V.O.S., Osmo bought a beautiful Gibson Cusotom Les Paul -57 gold top and I ended up buying two Custom ES-355 Gibsons – black and blood red. We looked like little boys in a candy store. On top of that Osmo got some vocal pre amps and we bought a lot of new toys for the tour. The best hang over day ever!!!!

So, now I will have dinner and get ready for the show tonight. The Pusher boys are doing their sound check at the other side of the wall (Playing some old style rock ’n’ roll) and I am at backstage looking at my lovely new babies ;) Love them – daddy’s little wooden angels!!!
Thank you all for the super great shows in Munich & Zurich and rock you tonight again. With new guitars <3 <3 <3
Hugs,

Samu

PS: Mikko, our sound guy still keeps his golden trophy on top of his console at FOH during the shows. Should I probably bring the bronze one on stage…?

Blog from 11. November 2011

Samu

Wurzburg & Nuremberg

Here we are in Freiburg backstage. We just had super great dinner and everyone’s getting ready for a little nap but I need to write down my thoughts before I can close my eyes before the show.

Actually it’s nice to sleep for 30-45 minutes before the show. You wake up 60 minutes before the stage time and you feel like you were dropped there from another planet. But as soon as you have the shower and a coffee, you feel like a new person again.

After the shopping-hang-over-day in Wurzburg, I had my first show on stage with my lovely new guitars at Wurzburg Posthalle. I LOVE THEM!!!! They’re like semi acoustic, with a great body sound compared to normal electric guitars. Riku just told me that the name ES 355 comes from “Electric Spanish” and this must be the reason I am feeling like a little bull fighter on stage ;)

The crowd in Wurzburg was probably not that loud, but during the show we could feel that they are really listening. Very nice evening!!! We had some guests at the back stage from the German importers of the Finnish Gelenec-speakers. They are far the best in the world for studio or for living room sofa. Check them out!

Yesterday we were in Nuremberg at this cool location Löwensaal-club. It’s on top of this little mountain /hill and there is a zoo right next to it. We had a walk in the afternoon with Riku and we first thought it’s some kind of “Doctor Evil’s laboratory” but the local bicyclist told us the real deal. I love the autumn also in Finland, but yesterday as the air was super fresh and all the leaves were yellow, red and brown, the view was breathtaking. I took some cool photos.

The Löwensaal is the hottest venue we ever had. We played there the last time in 2007 and Jukka, who was our keyboardist back then, passed out because of the heat and they had to carry him to the back stage to recover. We played the last 3 songs without him.

I kind of felt sorry for the crowd for not having any air in the room and I took every chance to throw my water bottles to them on the song breaks. The crowd was super loud and you could really smell the “human body” in the room. After the hot 105 minutes on stage, I felt really weak and I had to get some food and just hide in my bed for a while. Was too hot. Can just imagine how it felt for those standing there the whole evening.

Today we are playing our last German show in Freiburg. It’s a pity I slept until 1:30 PM and I didn’t have the time to go photo shooting to Schwarz Wald. It’s this huge forest where I bet the colors would have been pretty cool. Next time maybe.

Thank you all for the super shows and see you one more time in Germany until we head to Austria for the last evening of this run. And maybe some day-off shopping in the city of Vienna too. Does anyone know where the Bershka-shop is there?

In Vienna we will have some record industry & other business people joining us. Maybe they only wanna have the final party ;) In Vienna there will also be 12 people from Finland, competition winners, who won the trip through veikkaus.fi, the national betting & lottery agency. So you locals must show them how Vienna rocks ;) I know that the Austrian audience never fails, but just so you know ;)

Hugs everyone & Rock you soon,

Samu

PS: Rumor has it that Universal might have bought EMI music (we are signed to EMI in Germany, Switzerland, Austria)… Let’s see…

Blog from 15. November 2011

Samu

Freiburg & Vienna & Home sweet Home

Here we are in sunny Helsinki. They say the weather hasn’t been that great lately, but now it’s beautiful. I fell asleep at 10:00 PM last night and woke up at 1:00 PM. That makes 15 hours mmmm… I have usually been even more tired after the tours and of course I feel like I was dropped here from some other planet this time too, but I am feeling quite ok. The typical post-tour-depression hasn’t hit me yet. Let’s see how I feel after the ice hockey game of (HIFK) my favorite team tonight. They must finally get their game plan in order…

What a tour!!! I still can’t believe that the trip is over and that the whole trip was so fantastic. We had the last two shows in Freiburg (Ger) and Vienna (Aut). The Freiburg arena was huge and the crowd was just amazing again. I remember feeling very welcome in that small city on the acoustic tour at this cool Jazz Club we played, but this time they showed us how the Friburgers rock with a bigger stage. Even though there was still one more show in Austria after that evening, the last German show made us all very emotional. After the show I signed my autograph on a brand new convertible BMW. Hope you go the signature off as you came back to reality the next day ;)

After Freiburg, we drove to Vienna. It was a long drive and we had two bus drivers for the trip. The bus left at 1:00 AM in Freiburg and we arrived in Vienna around midday. We slept all like babies inside the beds of the steadily driving bus (I am gonna miss that little cradle) and we had all the energy to go shopping a bit at the SCS shopping center outside the city. We had also some friends from Finland visiting us for the last evening together. Our Finnish live agents and some record company & management ladies and 15 Finnish lottery agency staff and winners had probably come over to see that we are still alive and the party doesn’t get too serious ;)

The show day in Vienna was filled with activities. We did many interviews and we also received the PLATINUM awards for Hollywood Hills in Austria. Nice ;) It was the 5th award on this trip, so I must start planning how to drill my walls at home again. There’s really no space left and I better start thinking of new bigger walls. That is a good reason ;)

The show in Vienna was just magic! I usually sleep 30-45 minutes around 7:00 PM before the show at the bus, but this time it was not possible. I was just lying in my bed and thinking about everything that happened the last months and I was feeling super happy. It makes you feel quite thankful when you get to travel with the best guys on the planet playing almost every night for the best crowds in the universe. And we were able to beat the illness and tiredness together and knowing that - no matter what – I knew already that we would be able to pull it through the last night anyway. That was a nice feeling.

I honestly don’t know how well we played and sang that night, but the feeling I had on stage was indescribable. The last show of the tour is always a bit risky. You can kind of over charge yourself and it can become too much of maximizing the grande finale and things can go wrong. That was, for me, the top show of the whole trip. Partly because of the emotional charge but anyway. And we decided to play some stuff we never did before. Some forbidden cover songs from Queen, AC/DC and Metallica… ;)

At the end of the show, we had asked our dear support band “The Pusher” to join us for the last song AC/DC’s “Highway to hell” on stage. It was so cool having 2 drum sets, 3 guitars, 2 keyboards and 2 vocalists doing the business the same time. The greatest moment was when the Swedish Pop-Rockers bowed at you at the end; they showed their ASSES to us. That is a view I never wanna get out of my mind. God help us ;)

The Pusher and their crew was far the greatest gang we have ever traveled with and I didn’t know a joint journey could be that easy. Ok, the guys travel with their own vehicle and we have our own bus but you see each other pretty much on every show day and it was all 100 % fun and relaxing. Even after the first show together with these pretty boys from Stockholm, the fans thanked us for taking this great band on the road with us. Good start. It’s always good if your support band is so good on stage that the only thought in your head after their show is: “Damn, we must really fight to beat that!” Last time we had that feeling was with the Finnish “Poets Of The Fall” back in 2007. Great job Pusher boys!

The fact that they are from Sweden is something they can’t do anything about, but I am sure they will start supporting the Finnish ice hockey team soon ;) The only sad surprise was that they didn’t join us for the final party in Vienna. The guys had been blasting about partying after the tour like hell, but these little babies went to bed. Sweet ;) Ok, they had to drive all the way home to Sweden after Vienna, so I guess we can forgive them.
Tack så mycket vackra rumporna!!!!! Vi hörs & Lycka till!!

The live CD & DVD

As I might have told you on one or two of the nights, we recorded the whole tour again. I have a few shows already on my laptop, but I hope I will get the rest soon enough to listen to them through before we need to start making decisions. Or maybe it’s good to take a few days off before we start making the selections. I am dead sure the CD will be great. The great thing is that we played 25 different songs on this trip, so there are many tracks to choose from.

I heard the DVD release is also being planned for next year but we’ll let you know more about that as soon as the plans are solid. The material looks so damn great. There were new kinds of cameras on stage and we’ll have difficulties choosing the best camera angles.

So… It’s time to thank you all for the best trip ever. I feel kind of sad that it ended but my dad has always said that you should end the game while it’s still fun. And fun it was. There will be some TV shows and little festivals and stuff still this year and some other duties before the Santa Claus can come down the chimney and we’ll post these event on our website and Facebook. The official confirmed live shows are ALL on our website, so check it out if you’re not sure about a festival or show. I heard that in some cities someone might be selling tickets online even though the show has never been confirmed on our or the local side. Not nice! The spring tour will also keep us busy. We need to plan some new stuff for the bigger and smaller venues, but that is gonna be fun like hell and we already have many fresh ideas.

Some young lady told me after the show in Zurich that she would like to do more for us. She felt like “just one drop in the ocean” in the crowd and she told me that the show had made her happy and she’d like to show her respect by doing something or supporting us somehow. There’s really no need.

You are all doing so damn much already! None of you can ever understand how much it means to us that you come to the shows and events every time. You haven’t left us alone – not one single time – and that is more than we deserve. We are far the luckiest guys on the planet having fans and friends like you. THANK YOU <3 You are all angels <3

Special thanx to our crew; Antti, Mikko, MP, Timo and Tuomas, Tour manager Basty-Saku, Merch King Topi and bus driver Christian and of course all the local guys and girls for making it so great for us all every night.
See you all soon and we make it loud & hot again ;)

Hugs to everyone,

Samu

PS: “Happened on tour” TOP 5 (Alphabetical Order)

* Antti’s shopping day

I have been thinking about buying the Gibson ES 355 guitars for a long time and the hangover day in Wurzburg fixed it all. Thank you Antti and Musik Haus Thomann. I just LOVE them!!!!!!!! We went there with one taxi, but we came back with two. 5 new guitars just didn’t fit in…;) Welcome to the family Antti!

* New people

We heard fantastic news that there will be more people on the planet (nobody from the band) next year. Next time we tour in the early winter, we will have all the mustard we need – on the house. Congratulations!!!!

* Osmo’s Cosmos

There was a bet made in Rheine that Osmo lost two days later in Hamburg. He forgot his stage shirt in Hamburg. Now, I must give huge respect for Osmo for not forgetting stuff or himself almost at all on this trip, but the final results are still unclear. We doubled the amounts (40€ Osmo – 400€ Samu & Basty) and there is a tiny fight about who should pay who. Osmo’s shirt was found at Dortmund backstage after we left the venue, but Osmo claims that it’s been in someone else’s laundry bag. Ehmmm…

* Sunrise Avenue Tour TV

Riku and his camera has been the extra friend for us the whole year but on this trip the duo really started to blossom for real. I guess there are still a few episodes of tour TV to come. Stay tuned… We all think Riku’s humor is great. When you ask Riku, he says it’s AMAZING. I will miss him laughing his ass off in the corner of the backstage with headphones on editing his videos.

* Timo’s lightning & Erotic design.

The guy was so sick some evenings that he could barely stand, but he pulled through the show every time. After the show in Stockholm he flew to Lahti, Finland to host the local Erotic Exhibition “Chicago Erotic” and didn’t sleep at all before the show in Rheine. The stories from the Exhibition backstage are just hilarious. What’s been shared in the tour bus - stays in the tour bus.

Blog from 14. December 2011

Samu

On the way to the Swiss mountains

Last band show of 2011 is behind and we are driving from Oldenburg to Hamburg (Germany) where we spend the night with the guys. Tomorrow the crew, Sami and Raul go home, Osmo flies to Tokyo for some shows and I fly to Switzerland with Riku. We will have two days off first and if the weather allows it, we’ll go snowboarding somewhere near and on Saturday we play an acoustic show in Lucerne. One of the world’s most beautiful spots.

What an evening it was today! The show in Oldenburg was this kind of a festival of the N-joy radio from Hamburg and there were two bands also before us. It’s been a few weeks since the last full band show and I must admit I had missed it. Full 90 minutes of sweat (and my lovely new guitars…) and now we all feel like falling asleep… The last two nights we slept 2-3 hours per night with Riku and we really need to get some bedtime before we hit the slopes tomorrow.

Riku and I arrived from Romania this morning. We performed at the Voice Of Romania yesterday and we also did radio & magazine interviews during the two-day stay. The last time we were in Romania was 2008 at the Best Fest and especially since the show was so great back then, I really hope we could have more shows there too – soon. I heard about some Bucharest show plans for next year so keep your fingers crossed.

On Monday evening after the interviews we were invited to the local super star’s Mr. Horia Breciu’s Frank Sinatra tribute show at the Hard Rock Café. He introduced us to the audience at one point in the show and I slipped some bad words in Romanian by accident. Hopefully nobody minded ;)

I gotta say the talent show competitors yesterday were very good. They have said, in Finland too, that the Voice of Finland, starting this month, has better singers than any of the Idols or PopStar seasons have had until now. I like the concept. There are 4 coaches helping and assisting their own singers to get better than the other team members and the show is interesting in a new and fresh way. Check out the Dutch TV format clips on YouTube.

So… One more show to play on Saturday and then 2011 is done. It’s been quite a ride. I’m tired but super happy!

Thank you all for such great moments in Romania and today in Germany and see you all very soon. All the Burger King drive-ins have been closed so far tonight. Hopefully we could get some juicy burgers on the way to maximize the depth of the sleep.

Hugs,

Samu

Blog from 31. December 2011

Samu

New Year’s eve

It’s time to shoot the fireworks again and welcome the New Year 2012.

Looking back at 2011, I am still amazed and super happy for all the great things that happened. The soon ending 12 months has been probably the best period for Sunrise Avenue ever. Not only the great album, single and ticket sales figures but also the way it’s been so relaxed with the band, crew and everyone working with us. Feels better than ever before. The tour is just on a break right now and we will continue in February with new cities and new countries. But before that we will have the whole January off and we’ll all come back sun tanned as little brownies ;)

We recorded the whole tour again and it’s been cool editing and mixing the DVD / Live CD we’re releasing in march. After lying on the sofa for a few weeks after the tour, listening to the shows again brought back all the great moments from the tour we did this year. You sound amazing!!

Somewhere in the spring we will also go to studio with the guys, but honestly, we have no plans on when we would release something totally new. Maybe 2013. We’ll just make music and have fun with it. That’s the way to do it.

I just wanted to send a little “thank you” to you all for this the great year 2011 and I hope we see you all soon again as we start the engines again in February.

Remember to protect your eyes when shooting the fireworks in the night, I will. I have these very stupid looking glasses I bought with a HUGE sack of rockets, bombs and stuff ;)

I’ll celebrate tonight with Sami and Raul & other friends here in Helsinki and next week I’ll join Riku in Thailand, where the guitar hero is already dreaming of longer and louder solos on the spring tour and summer festivals next year. With a cold Singha-beer under a palm tree.

I don’t really need to make any wishes for next year. The calendar looks just great all the way to September and we will be on the road like hell with the guys. We also have some cool ideas and plans for our spring tour already and we can’t wait to hit the road.

Thank you all for a wonderful year. May the New Year 2012 bring you all love, happiness and success.

Love you all & See you soon,

Samu and the boys

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